BSP in majority, won't need allies

Loriety

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posted on 17 years ago — updated on 1 second ago

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While BSP has crossed the 200-seat mark, no other party could win even 100 seats.

New Delhi: Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has taken a huge lead in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections and is all set to form the next government in the state.

The Samajwadi Party (SP) leader and chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav has conceded defeat and submitted his resignation to UP Governor TV Rajeshwar on Friday afternoon as soon as it became clear that the BSP was going to secure a majority on its own in the UP Assembly.

According to the final figure, BSP won 208 seats and has now a simple majority in the 403-member Assembly. The SP got 97 seats and BJP and its allies 50 seats. The Congress tally was 21 and 26 seats went to Independents and smaller parties. Election in one seat was cancelled after a candidate died.

The results were expected to be in favour of BSP but the huge lead of more than 100 seats over its nearest rival is certainly a major achievement for a party that was set up only in 1984.

Mayawati has surpassed all expectations to cross the 200-seat mark in the 403-member UP Assembly and the BSP supremo will decide her future course of action after meeting her party legislatures on Saturday evening.

''Till the time, official results are announced, the party cannot practically chalk out a strategy," a BSP leader said.

She is likely to meet the UP Governor after the meeting to stake her claim to form the next government though she has so far refrained from making a public statement on her party's victory.

If she becomes the chief minister of UP once again, it will the fourth time that she will occupy the post.

In a prompt gesture, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh telephoned Mayawati and congratulated her on her party's victory in the UP Assembly polls.

BSP had put up its candidates on 304 seats, the maximum by all the political parties.

Mayawati's strategy of wooing Brahmins along with other upper castes in a big way in a rainbow coalition helped add to its traditional vote base of Dalits and Muslims.

Her Brahmin Joro Abhiyan (Bring the Brahmins into BSP's fold) has worked spectacularly and also made sure that neither the BJP nor the Congress could do as well as they have claimed when the elections began.

In fact her Dalit-Muslim-Brahmin alliance worked all over the state decimating not only the SP but also the BJP, which put up its worst ever show since 1991, and Congress.

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As soon as it became clear that BSP was going to be the single largest party and may even get a simple majority in the Assembly, victory celebrations began at the Mall Avenue residence of Mayawati in Lucknow.

Packets of 'laddoos' did the rounds as the celebrations gathered momentum and the party workers raised slogans hailing Mayawati.

Fireworks went on in quick succession as the workers held aloft the BSP flag bearing the party's 'elephant' symbol. Scenes of Holi were also recreated as the people smeared colour on each other to celebrate the BSP's return to power.

"Our leader has put an end to the ‘jungle raj' in UP. Lawlessness will now come to an end and the corrupt will be sent to jail," a party worker said.

While Congress was nowhere in the race as soon as the trends started coming in and has not been able to even maintain the number of seats that it won in the 2002 polls, BJP, too, has slid down badly.

Kalyan Singh's comeback in to the the BJP has failed as not only his son lost but also the backward caste votes that the former UP CM was expected to bring in along with him failed to back the BJP.

Muslims have also deserted the SP as the result from the Muslim-dominated Rohilkhand area of UP showed.

The counting of votes got under way amid high security across UP after seven phases of polling spread over a month.

The Election Commission has issued stringent guidelines to ensure the exercise is completed smoothly. 402 of the 403 assembly constituencies in the state went to the polls this time.

Exit polls had already predicted BSP as the clear leader but the extent of her victory has come as a surprise to everyone. For Mulayam Singh, it was the toughest election ever, trying hard to retain his Muslim-Yadav votebank and ward off anti-incumbency.

END OF ALLIANCE

Time Period

Coalition

Chief Minister

05.12.93 to 03.06.95

SP-BSP alliance

Mulayam Singh Yadav

03.06.95 to 17.10.95

BSP-BJP

Mayawati

President's Rule imposed

21.03.97 to 21.09.97