UP election 2022: Muslims mistaken in voting for SP, Mayawati says in analysis of BSP's poor showing

NEW DELHI: Mayawati's BSP was conspicuous by its low profile campaign for the just-concluded Uttar Pradesh assembly elections.

Pundits did not bet on BSP winning big; the party won a solitary seat in the 403-member house.

A day after the results, party supremo Mayawati chose to lay the blame at the door of the Samajwadi Party for BSP's poor performane.

Addressing the media in Lucknow, Mayawati said that UP's Muslims made a mistake by trusting SP more than BJP to keep the BJP out of power.

This, she said, resulted in a reverse polarisation with a big chunk of Dalit and OBC votes- the BSP's core support base- migrating to the BJP.

A section of upper caste voters too turned away from the BSP, resulting in the party's poor showing.

BSP could only manage to win the Rasara seat, where its candidate Umashankar Singh emerged victorious. In contrast, it had won 19 seats in the 2017 UP elections.

Mayawati appealed to the party cadre to remain loyal and continue in their political struggle against BJP.

Reflecting on the poor show of the Congress, Mayawati drew a parallel with the BJP, saying the saffron party had a similar poor run in the years prior to 2017.

The Congress, despite a high-profile campaign could manage to win just two seats in the elections.

The results for the 2022 UP elections have thrown up a decisive mandate for the BJP, with the saffrom party and its allies winning on 273 of the 403 seats.

The Samajwadi Party won on 111, while its allies bagged another 14.



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