BSP's Uma Shankar Singh (Photo/Facebook) The BSP reduced to just one seat in Uttar Pradesh and the sole winner is a sitting MLA from Rasra Assembly seat in Ballia district — Uma Shankar Singh.
Asked about his lone victory and the downfall of the BSP, Singh said the party would review the performance after the counting. But, it’s worth noticing that the BSP had got less seats even in 2017, but its vote share was 1.9 per cent higher than the SP, which has now dipped far lower than the latter.
Singh won the seat for a third consecutive term. Earlier he had won the seat in 2012 and 2017 despite all odds.
Singh defeated his rival Mahendra, the candidate of SP alliance partner Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party, in a closely contested poll with a margin of just 6,000 votes by securing 76,000 votes.
Singh’s image in Rasra is of “Robin Hood” for providing free bees to locals and helping the poor generously in their daughters’ wedding. He is also known for providing wifi to the public in Rasra, an underdeveloped constituency.
Singh, a contractor by profession, had first contested state polls in 2012 and then in 2017. This is his third victory from the seat. There is a belief in Rasra that even if he is an MLA of opposition party, he could get the development works for his constituency done.
Asked about his victory, he gave credit to party workers and the people of the Rasra assembly constituency. He said he had a close fight with a candidate who had never visited the constituency in the past.
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