Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav and Bahujan Samajwadi Party chief Mayawati at latter’s residence, in Lucknow. (PTI)While the alliance between the BSP and the SP managed to make some dent in the mandate that the BJP got in Uttar Pradesh in 2014 — 71 seats — the BSP emerged to be the major gainer.
The BJP lost numbers compared to 2014 but gained in terms of vote-share. The SP got around the same number of seats but lost in terms of vote-share. The BSP, which led on 10 seats, maintained its vote-share. Lok Sabha elections results 2019: Full list of winners state-wise
As of late Thursday, the BJP led in 62 out of UP’s 80 seats, reflecting the Congress’s inability in giving a strong fight even in its bastion of Amethi. The grand old party appeared to the biggest loser, with even its vote-share dipping in the state. This comes even after the party launched Priyanka Gandhi as general secretary in charge of eastern UP who extensively campaigned in the region.
Despite losing about 15 seats to the alliance, the BJP’s vote share increased in the state from 42.63 per cent in 2014 to approximately 49.5 per cent this time. The BSP maintained the same vote-share (around 19.27), while the SP’s share dipped from 22 per cent in 2014 to about 18 per cent.
The Congress’s vote-share came down from 7.53 per cent to about 6.3 per cent. The party got a major shock in Amethi, where AICC president Rahul Gandhi lost to Union minister Smriti Irani of BJP by about 55,000 votes. Irani maintained her lead against Rahul through all the rounds of counting.
In Varanasi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi broke his previous record of 3.71-lakh margin, winning by about 4.79 lakh votes. The Congress chose to repeat local leader Ajai Rai against Modi, but the SP’s Shalini Yadav finished second.
BJP president Amit Shah and PM Narendra Modi after winning Lok Sabha election results. (Express Photo)Among other surprising results were Union minister Manoj Sinha of the BJP losing to BSP’s Afzal Ansari in Ghazipur by a margin of over 1 lakh votes, and BSP candidate Atul Kumar Singh, absconding in an alleged rape case, winning from Ghosi.
The BSP was leading from Ambedkar Nagar, Amroha, Ghazipur, Ghosi, Bijnor, Jaunpur, Lalganj, Nagina, Saharanpur and Sharavasti.
The SP failed to retain some of the constituencies it had won in 2014, including Kannauj, where Dimple Yadav, wife of party chief Akhilesh Yadav, was trailing by 12,000 votes. Akhilesh won from Azamgarh by over 2.5 lakh votes against Bhojpuri actor Dinesh Lal Nirahua of BJP.
Party patriarch Mulayam Yadav won from Mainpuri by about 94,000 votes. Two sitting SP MPs — Akshay Yadav in Firozabad and Dharmendra Yadav in Badaun — were trailing to BJP candidates. In Rampur, Azam Khan of SP was leading by a margin of about 94,000 votes against Jaya Prada of the BJP.
