The Modi talisman upset many calculations in elections 2019 in the caste and faction-ridden Uttar Pradesh.
The BJP put up a stupendous display in Uttar Pradesh where it was pitted against a seemingly formidable ‘mahagathbandhan’ of SP-BSP-RLD.
The outcome showed that the ‘Modi factor’ clearly stumped the caste-based alliance. It also stumped the Congress where the Gandhi family is likely to lose its political fiefdom Amethi to the BJP.
Congress president and party candidate Rahul Gandhi is on the verge of suffering a defeat at the hands of Union minister Smriti Irani. Rahul has been consecutively winning from this constituency since the past three terms.
Though the election results from Amethi have not yet been officially declared, according to the latest poll trends, Smriti Irani was leading over Rahul by a margin of 38,449 votes.
However, at a Press conference in Delhi earlier in the day, Rahul Gandhi congratulated Smriti Irani on her victory in Amethi.
The only saving grace for the Congress is Rae Bareli. UPA chairperson and Rahul’s mother Sonia Gandhi has established a decisive lead in Rae Bareli.
The Congress had fielded candidates on 67 seats, but barring Amethi, Rae Bareli, Fatehpur Sikri and Saharanpur where a semblance of contest was visible, its candidates have performed poorly.
As the results of the 80 LokSabha seats in the state poured in, the BJP has won 32 seats and was leading in 30. Though its tally was short of the 71 seats won in the 2014 LokSabha elections, yet the party managed to ward off the challenge posed by the anti incumbency factor as also the ‘mahagathbandhan’ parties, which were predicted to get the better off of the BJP.
But,as the latest projections showed that the BSP was leading in a mere 12 seats and the SP in four with Akhilesh Yadav leading comprehensively in Azamgarh.
The Rashtriya Lok Dal father and son duo of Ajit Singh and Jayant Chaudhary were trailing in Muzaffarnagar and Baghpat.
The BJP’s performance has knocked the winds out of the ‘mahagathbandhan’ sails. When the Bahujan Samaj Party president Mayawati and Samajwadi Party chief AkhileshYadav formed a electoral alliance alongwith Ajit Singh of RLD, it was speculated that the BJP will find the going tough.
However, the outcome clearly showed that the Bharatiya Janata Party propelled by ‘Modi factor’ was perceived by the voters to be a better bet than the SP,BSP, or the RLD.
Even as the BJP maintained a winning trend in Uttar Pradesh, the results have shown that in the politics of ‘mahagathbandhan’ it was Mayawati who benefitted more than either Akhilesh Yadav, or Ajit Singh.
The BSP had drawn a blank in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, while the SP had won 5 and RLD none. The BSP had started from scratch in UP in the 2019 LokSabha elections.