In UP,BSP has biggest fall

In terms of votes,the Congress is the only gainer in the Lok Sabha polls in Uttar Pradesh,with its vote share rising by about 10 per cent....

In terms of votes,the Congress is the only gainer in the Lok Sabha polls in Uttar Pradesh,with its vote share rising by about 10 per cent since the 2007 Assembly elections,to 18.25 per cent. The BSP fared the worst,with its vote share dropping by three per cent since the 2007 polls to 27.42 per cent. While this was the highest of all the parties in Uttar Pradesh,it translated into just 20 seats for the BSP,behind the Samajwadi Partys 23 and the Congresss 21. One of the reasons for this was that the BSP contested all the 80 Lok Sabha seats in the state,while the Congress contested 69,the BJP 72 and the SP 75. The Congress itself won 12 more seats as compared to 2004 on the 10 per cent rise in its vote share. The vote share of the SP this time was 23.26 per cent a drop of 2.8 per cent from 2007,while the BJP got 17.50 per cent down from 19.62 per cent two years ago of the votes polled. While the BJP vote share was the lowest since the 1991 LS elections when it had polled 32.82 per cent and won 51 seats,the Congresss was the highest since that year,when it had polled 18.02 per cent and won just five seats.

Party-hoppers find themselves pooped

LUCKNOW: Before the Lok Sabha polls,about 50 politicians in UP left their parties to join others in the hope of a victory. Most went to the BSP which seemed to offer the greenest pastures. The voters rejected most of them,including 11 of the 12 party-hopping MPs. The only winner was Shafiqur Rehman,who won from Sambhal on a BSP ticket after being the SP MP from Moradabad. Only a handful of party hoppers won,including Jagdish Rana ex-SP MLA who was the BSPs Saharanpur candidate,Kadir Rana formerly RLD MLA,now BSPs Muzaffarnagar MP,Gorakhnath Pandey ex-BJP MLA and now BSPs Bhadohi MP,Beni Prasada Verma SP rebel who won on Congress ticket from Gonda,Raja Ram Pal the BSPs former MP,now Congresss Akbarpur MP and Brijbhushan Saran Singh who left the BJP to win as the SPs Kaiserganj candidate. The prominent losers included former Union minister Akhilesh Das,Mukhtar Ansari,Naresh Agarwal,Saleem Sherwani,Shahid Siddiqui and D P Yadav.

Finally,it all worked out well for Praful

NAGPUR: While poll maths suggested a tough fight,high-profile NCP leader and outgoing Union Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel pulled off a spectacular victory in Bhandara-Gondia,winning by a margin of nearly 2.5 lakh votes over his nearest rival,Congress rebel and Independent nominee Nana Patole. Analysts had predicted that while Patole would take away much of the Congress vote headed Patels way on account of the NCP-Congress tie-up,the Dalits would go with the BSP due to the anger over the Khairlanji case. The Congress-NCP and Patole were accused of taking a pro-upper caste stand in the killings. In the uncertainty over his chances,Praful Patel who lost in the 2004 polls,only to take the Rajya Sabha route to Parliament even considered fielding wife Varsha from the seat. However,eventually,he decided to contest from the seat. Patole took a sizeable upper caste vote from the BJP but little from the Congress. And,contrary to what all the doomsayers were saying,the Dalits actually voted for Patel. The BSPs Virendra Jaiswal polled only 68,246 votes. It is believed that the local Dalit support for both the Congress and Republican Party of India in the area went Patels way. Some upper caste leaders from the BJP also worked stealthily in favour of both Patel and Patole,sources said.

Year-long work pays off for MNS

MUMBAI: The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena MNS may not have won enough votes to get a permanent symbol from the Election Commission,but its good showing was a result of detailed planning and a year-long party-building work by Raj Thackeray. The much-publicised campaign against outsiders seems to have also clicked. The three-year-old MNS built its base through the Maharashtra Navnirman Kamgar Sena MNKS,which over the years has increased its membership from 28,000 to 90,000. With 280 units in the state,it now has control over 12 unions. MNKS leaders say the organisations growth in Mumbai,Thane and Pune translated into votes for its candidates. They are a large support base for our party for a lifetime now. We are representing them at their workplaces and getting them justice on various issues, says Manoj Chavan,MNKS chief. Raj had given senior leaders responsibilities of districts and regions to build up party cadre. Like the Shiv Sena,MNS workers are setting up centres across the state where people can take their complaints and ask for help. During repeated meetings with party leaders and workers and rallies,Raj focused on building the party and trying to connect beyond the partys urban base. While MNS candidates didnt win,they ended up polling 21 per cent votes in Mumbai and adjoining areas. However,that translated into just 4.02 per cent votes ,and the requirement for a permanent symbol is either at least 6 per cent of vote share in the state or two elected MPs.