Yogi Adityanath in Lucknow. (Express File Photo: Vishal Srivastav)
IN ITS bypoll defeats in Gorakhpur and Phulpur, the BJP lost large chunks of the urban votes that it had polled in these two Lok Sabha constituencies in 2014, as well as in the 2017 assembly elections.
Gorakhpur has one urban segment out of five, Gorakhpur Urban, while Phulpur’s five segments include two urban, Allahabad North and West. In all three urban segments, the BJP led the Samajwadi Party in the bypolls but lost both Lok Sabha seats on account of the SP’s leads in six segments. The 10th seat, Pipraich in Gorakhpur, is semi-urban (predominantly rural); the BJP led there, too. The BJP’s urban leads, however, were drastically smaller than its 2014 leads and 2017 victory margins. The BJP won nine of the 10 Assembly seats in 2017, the Apna Dal (S) one.
In Gorakhpur Urban, home to the Gorakhpur temple, the bypoll turnout was the lowest in the Lok Sabha constituency, at 38%. “There are various factors and it is wrong to blame it on anyone thing. One should look at how the entire voting turnout has reduced,” a BJP leader said in Gorakhpur. “It should not be forgotten that despite everything, our candidate did get 4.34 lakh votes, which is not small.”
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The BJP polled 90,313 votes in Gorakhpur Urban to lead the SP by 24,577 votes. In comparison, it had polled 1.34 lakh votes here in 2014, leading the SP by 1.03 lakh votes. Compared to 2017, the BJP dropped a quarter of the 1.22 lakh votes it had polled on its way to victory by over 60,000 votes.
In semi-urban Pipraich, the difference was as close as 243 votes. The BJP got 1,00,634 votes and the SP 1,00,391. Although the BJP tally was one-fifth short of the 1.25 lakh votes it had polled in 2014, it regained some of the ground it had lost in 2017, when it polled 82,739 votes on its way to victory.
At Gorakhpur temple the day after the bypoll results. (Photo: Vishal Srivastava)
In Allahabad North of Phulpur, populated largely by Brahmins and Thakurs, the BJP polled 43,999 votes to the SP’s 38,436, a slender lead of 5,563. Last year, the BJP had polled 89,191 votes to the SP-Congress’s 54,166; in 2014, it had taken a massive 1,08,391 votes while the SP polled only 36,979.In Allahabad West, the BJP polled 53,330 votes and the SP 33,354. The BJP dropped from 85,518 votes in 2017 (the SP-Congress too fell from 60,182) and from 99,710 in 2014, when the SP-Congress had polled 36,979.
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Strongman Atiq Ahmed polled 29,020 votes in Allahabad West, from where he is a five-term MLA. His tally here was over half his 48,087 across the Lok Sabha constituency.
“We trailed in urban areas but in the rural areas, people came out and voted in our favour in large numbers, which shows that they were unhappy with poll promises not being fulfilled and that the loan waiver did not benefit farmers as hyped,” SP winner Praveen Nishad told The Indian Express.
Rural seats
In Gorakhpur Rural, the BJP which had led the SP by 43,672 in 2014, trailed by 16,281 votes this time. In Campiarganj,the BJP’s 2014 lead of 42,046 turned into a deficit of 14,130. And in Sahjanwa,where the BJP had got 87,406 votes in 2014 to lead by 46,354, it trailed this time by 16,370 votes.
In Phulpur Assembly segment, which is rural, the SP led the BJP by nearly 40,000 votes, polling over 1 lakh votes to the SP’s 61,365. The area is dominated by OBC communities such as Yadavs and Kurmi Patels. In 2014, the BJP got 1,03,681 and the SP-Congress 54,026.
In OBC-dominated Phaphamau, the SP took 81,221 votes and the BJP 60,306. In 2014, the BJP had 92,918; SP-Congress 38,964.
In Soraon, a reserved ST seat, the BJP got 64,461 votes, trailing the SP that had 89,825. In the Lok Sabha elections, the BJP had polled 98,311 votes while the SP had polled 45,934.