BJP defies anti-incumbency factor in UP

LUCKNOW, March 3: Despite the much talked about anti-incumbency factor showing the trick in many states, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ba...

LUCKNOW, March 3: Despite the much talked about anti-incumbency factor showing the trick in many states, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) bagged 60 out of 85 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh, improving upon its earlier tally of 53 by seven seats.

The Samajwadi Party, led by Mulayam Singh Yadav, emerged victorious in 20 seats improving upon its earlier tally of 16 by four seats. The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) got four seats while Samajwadi Janata Party (R) chief Chandra Shekar retained the Ballia seat.

The Congress and the Janata Dal, which had five and six seats respectively in the 1996 elections, faced a total rout and could not get even one seat in this sprawling state having the maximum number of Lok Sabha seats.

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The popularity of BJP’s prime ministerial candidate, Atal Behari Vajpayee, who defeated his nearest SP rival, Muzaffar Ali, by a heavy margin, worked in BJP’s favour. In many states, people voted against the government but in Uttar Pradesh, which is under BJP rule, party candidates emergedvictorious in nearly 70 per cent seats.

BJP candidates performed well in western UP, defeating heavyweights like Ajit Singh in Baghpat and BSP supremo Kanshi Ram in Saharanpur in western Uttar Pradesh. The BJP also swept away all the four Lok Sabha seats in the hill regions of the state and opened its account in Bundelkhand region where the party got four seats.

Notable among the losers were Narain Dutt Tiwari in Nainital, Salman Khursheed in Farrukhabad, Satish Sharma, a protege of Sonia Gandhi in Amethi (all Congress), Vinay Katiyar in Faizabad, Ashok Yadav in Mainpuri (all BJP), Phoolan Devi in Mirzapur and Shubhawati in Basgaon (all SP).

While the Congress lost all the seven seats, including allies, held at the party in the 1996 polls, the BSP lost four seats out of the six it held in the previous elections. The BSP candidates, former chief minister Mayawati from Akbarpur in Faizabad division and Arif Mohammed Khan in Beiraich, won from two new seats.

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The Congress could not even open its account.The party’s non-performance made it clear that the Sonia factor did not work in Uttar Pradesh. Sonia addressed a series of meetings in the state and attracted large crowds but her charisma did not translate into votes. The SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav won from Sambhal with a margin of more than one lakh votes. His rival D P Yadav of the BJP levelled charges of poll rigging by Mulayam and his "goons" but the Election Commission and the apex court turned down D P Yadav’s demand of a re-poll in Sambhal.

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