SP tramples BSP in UP

By the time the final votes were being counted on Tuesday, the Samajwadi Party had already trounced the opposition with a seat tally of 222, much beyond what it had expected, much more than what it had ever polled in all its years of existence.

The BSP stood a distant second at 77, less than half the 206 it had got in 2007.

The party will now be left to ponder where its greatest weakness lay-in the inaccessibility of the chief minister, in the slew of corruption cases against its ministers or its inability to hold on to the Dalit vote.


In keeping with her aloof image, Mayawati stayed locked in her home all day, despite speculation that she would hand in her resignation in the late afternoon.

So complete has been Mayawati’s cut off from the party workers that even the press was briefed by her cabinet secretary and not a party leader. She remained contemptuous of the media, which had in fact
supported her during her initial days.

Her haughtiness was evident in the throne she sat on in election rallies and how dismissive she was
of party candidates. Her refusal to recommend a CBI probe against Naseemudin Siddiqui might also have affected the votes in the last two phases.

Though she did show the door to more than 20 party men charged in corruption cases, this was viewed as too little, too late.

For the SP all speculation of seeking outside support was rendered futile within the first two hours of counting (when the party was leading on 155 seats) and colours, fire crackers and sweets appeared
at the party headquarters.

The party’s state chief Akhilesh Singh Yadav exulted, “We thank the people of the state. The BSP had a
wonderful opportunity to set the state on the path of development but wasted it.”

The initial hour of counting had offered a big surprise in that the BJP was leading in more seats than the BSP. A little later Kalraj Mishra, the party’s vice president admitted, “Our campaign started too late. We failed to build on the momentum of Advaniji’s yatra.”

The party’s final tally was a dismal 47 brought about perhaps in no small measure by the party’s patronage to BSP’s corruption tainted rejects like Babu Singh Kushwaha and Badsah Singh.

For the Congress and allies, the tally was 36, numbers which were not reflective of the huge numbers that had thronged to Rahul Gandhi’s 200 plus election rallies.

“We are disappointed but not dejected. We have been in the opposition for 22 years”, said the party’s state chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi taking “moral responsibility” for the party’s performance.

Joshi also drew consolation from the fact that the party’s vote share had increased and fewer candidates would lose their deposits these time.