Bahujan Samaj Party has suffered a crushing defeat in the Lok Sabha elections. Forget about winning, none of the party's candidates could even garner enough votes to come in second place. Opposition parties also made a strong dent in BSP's vote bank, so BSP's vote share came down to one.
The launch of the party's young face Akash Anand in the Lok Sabha elections proved ineffective, while BSP supremo Mayawati's popularity graph also seemed to slip down in the recent elections. BSP's decision to contest the elections alone proved to be the biggest mistake. It hurt the Dalit vote bank and about ten percent of the party's votes shifted to other parties as compared to the 2014 elections.
Let us tell you that BSP had not won any seat in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections before this. However, 34 of its candidates were in second place. Thereafter, BSP fought the 2019 elections in alliance with SP and won 10 seats.
In the recent elections, BSP decided not to ally with any party and stood by its decision till the last moment. This became the reason for the party's defeat. In the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, the party got 24.67 percent votes and won 19 Lok Sabha seats.
In the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, the party got about 27.42 percent votes and it elected 20 MPs, which was BSP's best performance in Lok Sabha elections. However, in the 2014 elections, BSP got 19.77 percent votes and none of its candidates could reach the Parliament.
Akash's magic did not work
Despite becoming Mayawati's successor along with the party's national coordinator, Akash Anand's magic did not work in the elections. He held his first public meeting in Nagina, where directly targeting Azad Samaj Party candidate Chandrashekhar Azad Ravan proved to be a big mistake. Due to this, the Dalit vote bank went to Chandrashekhar's camp.
Let us tell you that on behalf of BSP, Akash started the election campaign from Nagina on April 6. After that, she sought votes for the party candidates in Mathura, Sant Kabir Nagar, Gorakhpur, Kaushambi, Sitapur and Unnao. In none of these seats, the BSP candidate could get even enough votes to come in second place.
Danger looms over Mayawati's political innings
Mayawati also campaigned in 26 districts in favor of the party candidates in the Lok Sabha elections, where candidates from nearby seats were also called and appealed to vote for them. Due to BSP's poor performance in all these seats, Mayawati's politics is in danger. According to experts, the Azad Samaj Party can benefit from the falling graph of Mayawati's popularity, and the Dalit vote bank can now rapidly go to its side.
The party's decision of not trusting its current MPs and giving a chance to new faces also turned out to be a loss-making deal. Due to not getting tickets, its MPs went to other parties. The party fielded only Nagina MP Girish Chandra from Bulandshahr, while Jaunpur MP Shyam Singh Yadav was given a ticket at the last moment and fielded in the election.
SP has made the most inroads into BSP seats
According to the results of the Lok Sabha elections, SP has made the most inroads into BSP seats. SP has captured BSP's Shravasti, Ambedkarnagar, Jaunpur, Lalganj, Ghazipur and Ghosi seats. Congress has won the Saharanpur and Amroha seats. Apart from this, RLD has won the Bijnor seat and the Azad Samaj Party has won the Nagina seat. Surprisingly, the BJP has not won any of BSP's seats.
Only 2 percent of votes across the country
BSP had fielded its candidates in elections in many other states apart from UP, however, it has got only 2.06 percent votes.
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