BJP’s spectacular victory in the by-elections for nine assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh indicates that Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s call for religious unity and avoiding caste divisions has worked wonders.

The BJP won 7 of the 9 seats, wresting the Kundarki and Katehari assembly seats from the Samajwadi Party (SP), while retaining all its own and NDA partner seats. The SP, however, managed to retain the Sisamau and Karhal seats.

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Political experts believe that voters have endorsed Yogi’s slogan “Batenge to Katenge” (If we divide, we will be cut). Unlike the Lok Sabha elections, the OBCs and Dalits, who had distanced themselves from the BJP, now seem to have rallied behind the party.

The results show that Dalits did not vote for the SP as they did in the Lok Sabha elections. Besides, Congress’s detachment from these elections harmed the SP and benefited the BJP.

Yogi Adityanath’s slogan “Batenge to Katenge”, which originated in Uttar Pradesh, also resonated in the Maharashtra elections.

BJP made a historic lead in the Kundarki seat of Moradabad, which has 64% minority voters, marking its first win in this seat since 1992. The caste and social dynamics were not in BJP’s favour, yet the results indicate Kundarki that Muslims also voted for the BJP candidate. SP’s defeat in the Muslim-dominated seat raises questions about the traditional vote bank of the Samajwadi Party.

Unlike the Lok Sabha elections, religious unity was a key theme in the by-elections for the nine seats in UP. Yogi Adityanath personally led the campaign, emphasising religious unity at every small and big rally. “If we divide, we will be divided,” reflected the BJP’s consistent ideology of promoting Hindu unity. In these elections, the slogan had a stronger impact, with voters prioritising religion over caste, as reflected in the election results.

CM Yogi Adityanath prominently raised the issue of Hindu unity not only in UP but also in the Maharashtra and Jharkhand elections. This slogan appeared to have a significant impact in Maharashtra, where the CM consistently appealed to voters not to base their decisions on caste. Other BJP leaders also campaigned along the same lines.

Experts also acknowledged that, unlike the Lok Sabha elections, the BJP did not appear overconfident in this election. The party selected candidates based on social engineering and devised tailored strategies for each seat. A series of meetings were held to ensure that party workers did not become complacent. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) also played an important role in shaping public opinion in favour of the BJP.

The issues of caste census and the Constitution were notably absent in the UP by-elections. Congress’s distance from these elections also had an impact on the state. Rahul Gandhi, who prominently raised issues like the Constitution and caste census, was completely missing from the UP campaign. With no alliance between the SP and Congress, the latter distanced itself from the state. In addition to national leaders, local Congress leaders were also absent from the SP’s election campaign.