For saffron, it’s a bolt from the blue and red brigade
LUCKNOW/ALLAHABAD/GORAKHPUR: The BJP’s defeat in the Gorakhpur and Phulpur Lok Sabha bypolls have further underscored the BJP’s reliance on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah to win elections, BJP leaders said.
The BJP’s loss in Gorakhpur came after three decades, though Maurya’s victory in Phulpur in 2014 was the party’s first there.
In Gorakhpur, SP alliance candidate Praveen Nishad secured 4,56,513 votes to defeat BJP’s Upendra Dutt Shukla by a margin of 21,881 votes. Shukla got 4,34,632 votes.
Congress’s candidate Surheeta Kareem lost her deposit by securing only 18,858 votes.
In Phulpur, SP candidate Nagendra Singh Patel, who secured 3,42,796 votes, defeated his nearest rival Kaushlendra Singh Patel (2,83,183 votes) of the BJP by 59,613 votes.
BJP leaders struggled to explain the results. Deputy CM Maurya pointed to the low voter turnout – roughly 49% in Gorakhpur and about 38% in Phulpur, while regretting the party’s inability to get its supporters to the polling booth.
“We admit that we hadn’t estimated that together with BSP support SP candidates would be able to win so many votes,” said Maurya.
Voting percentages indicate that despite a late pact, the SP and the BSP fared better in convincing their supporters to vote.
For instance, in Allahabad north and south, considered BJP citadels, the turnout was 22% and 31% respectively. In contrast, the polling percentage in Soraon, Phulpur and Phaphamau, with heavy concentrations of OBCs and Muslims, was far better.
Similarly in Gorakhpur, the urban assembly segment which houses the Gorakhnath Mutt, had recorded the lowest turnout (37.76%) among all the five that make up the Lok Sabha constituency. This was the first time in 29 years that the BJP hadn’t named a representative of the Gorakhnath Mutt as its candidate and political observers said that this too might have played an important role in the final scheme of things.
Thanking Mayawati for supporting his candidature, Praveen Nishad said his victory showed that the people supported the development work done by the SP government.
“BSP leaders worked with us to bring this transformation,” he said.
His father and NISHAD Party president Sanjay Nishad said: “I have worked with BSP founder Kanshiram and knew how caste calculations can play vital role in elections. I am thankful to Mayawati for accepting my call for support to the SP alliance. This is a mandate against demonetisation, poverty, unemployment and anti-people policies of the government.”
Updendra Shukla refused to comment on the election results.