Lucknow: In the recently held bypolls in Uttar Pradesh, Samajwadi Party (SP) lost Azamgarh and Rampur Lok Sabha seats. Both the seats are won by BJP’s candidates.
After the bypoll results, SP candidate for Azamgarh by-poll Dharmendra Yadav alleged that ‘BJP-BSP’ alliance is responsible for his defeat to BJP’s Dinesh Lal Yadav ‘Nirahua’.
Although, officially there was no alliance between BJP and BSP, the numbers of votes polled by BSP candidate Shah Alam alias Guddu Jamali in Azamgarh constituency shows that Jamali garner major chunk of Muslim and Dalit votes and reduced the SP candidate’s tally.
In the constituency, Dinesh Lal Yadav defeated Dharmendra Yadav by 8,679 votes. The BJP and SP candidates secured 3,12,768 and 3,04,089 votes respectively whereas, Jamali secured 2,66,210 votes.
Is Dalit-Muslim formula behind Mayawati’s success?
A few months back, SP bagged 4.35 lakh votes in 10 assembly constituency of Azamgarh whereas, BJP had got 3.30 lakh votes and BSP 2.24 lakh.
Within few months, BSP’s votes in Azamgarh increased to 2.66 lakh whereas, SP’s votes decreased to 3.04 lakh.
Experts believe that Mayawati’s Dalit-Muslim formula worked in favour of BSP.
Mayawati appreciates party candidate
Appreciating the performance of her party candidate, Mayawati on Monday asked party workers to keep the momentum and prevent Muslims from being misled in the 2024 general election.
“The determination and courage with which all the BSP workers, office bearers and party candidate Shah Alam alias Guddu Jamali have fought the Azamgarh Lok Sabha bypoll need to be maintained till 2024 Lok Sabha general elections as part of the resolve while maintaining election readiness,” Mayawati said in a tweet in Hindi.
In another tweet, she said, not only Azamgarh, but BSP’s struggle and efforts have to be continued in the entire UP to convert the groundwork into votes.
Rampur Lok Sabha constituency
In Rampur Lok Sabha constituency, BSP did not field its candidate making it direct contest between SP and BJP candidates.
It has allegedly helped BJP candidate Ghanshyam Singh Lodhi in defeating SP candidate Mohd. Asim Raja by bagging majority of Dalit votes.
Lodhi bagged 3,67,104 votes whereas Asim Raja secured 3,25,056 votes.
