Many political stalwarts, and supposedly community leaders, faced defeat by lesser-known candidates and even first-timers. As the 2022 Uttar Pradesh election results are being looked at from different perspectives, a detailed analysis of the voting pattern in the states’ four regions — Pashchim, Awadh, Bundelkhand and Purvanchal — reflects on how the loss of seats by the BJP and the BSP has not only benefitted the Samajwadi Party, but small regional parties like Rashtriya Lok Dal, Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party, Apna Dal and Nishad Party in alliance with the major players, too, gained from it.
At the same time, many political stalwarts, and supposedly community leaders, faced defeat by lesser-known candidates and even first-timers. Former Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya was defeated by Pallavi Patel of Apna Dal (Kameravadi), an SP alliance partner, in Sirathu while first-timer BJP’s Surendra Kushwaha defeated BJP turncoat and former cabinet minister Swami Prasad Maurya, an SP candidate, in Fazilnagar. In the central region, first-timer SP’s Maharaji Devi, wife of former SP minister Gayatri Prajapati, who is serving a jail term, defeated former Rajya Sabha MP and former minister Sanjay Singh of the BJP in Amethi. In 2017, Sanjay Singh’s first wife Garima, a BJP candidate, had defeated Gayatri Prajapati.
Similarly, in Pashchim (western UP), RLD’s Ashraf Ali Khan defeated UP Cabinet Minister for sugarcane Suresh Rana.
Even in Bundelkhand, where the saffron party had made a clean sweep winning all seats in 2017, has given a mixed result this time, with BJP and its allies winning 16 seats, while the SP getting three.
The major fight was, however, seen in Purvanchal, where the BJP lost a considerable number of seats and so did the BSP, while the SP and its partners gained. Here, the newly-formed Jansatta Dal Lok Tantrik Party debuted by winning two seats — one more than the BSP.
In western UP — the sugarcane belt of UP, which is also referred to as “Harit Pradesh” — the 2022 Assembly elections took place in the backdrop of the farmers’ protest, while in 2017, it was held after the Muzaffarnagar riots. The riot-hit region with a sizable population of Jats and Muslims spread across 136 assembly constituencies had reduced the ruling SP to mere 21 seats. In this election, however, the SP-RLD combine improved their tally. Some prominent names associated with the riots like Suresh Rana and Sangeet Som, both BJP leaders, were defeated here.
The farmers’ protest, however, did not have much impact on the BJP’s tally — as was projected by the opposition. The saffron party won 93 against109 in 2017. In this region, Jayant Chaudhary-led RLD gained the most, as it won eight seats against just one in 2017. Karhal in Mainpuri, won by SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, also falls in this region.
In 2017, the Bundelkhand region, spread across 19 Assembly constituencies, had voted for the BJP, which had promised solutions to various problems like water shortage, housing, healthcare and development. Though the ruling party tried to fulfil some of these promises by starting the construction of the Bundelkhand Expressway, medical college, etc, several projects remained in the pipeline. Here, the SP won three seats and Apna Dal, a BJP ally, won two. Now, the biggest task for the BJP government will be to complete the projects.
As far as voting is concerned, the central region did not see much change, with the ruling party winning 62 seats as compared to 67 in 2017 while the SP improving its tally by claiming 18 seats against 10 in 2017. The Congress and the BSP, which had won three and two seats, respectively, lost their ground. The region also witnessed the Apna Dal (S) making inroads by winning with two seats — Kaimganj in Farukhabad and Ghatampur in Kanpur. Their performance in the central and Bundelkhand regions helped the Apna Dal (S) and its ally BJP to improve their seat tally to 12 against 9 in 2017.
The region also has the SP pocket borough Etawah and the Congress’ bastion Raebareli, but the SP failed to perform extraordinarily while the Congress, which had won two seats in Raebareli in 2017, lost both seats. The SP failed to win any seats in Kannauj, which has been considered its stronghold and even lost the Etawah seat to the BJP. The victory of former UP minister and Akhilesh’s uncle Shivpal Singh Yadav in Jaswantnagar and three more seats — Barthana, Bidhuna and Dibyapur — brought some relief to the SP.
The eastern UP (Purvanchal), however, witnessed the actual fight with bigwigs camping in this region. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose Parliamentary Constituency Varanasi falls in this region, stayed there for three days and held roadshows. Also, Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee joined Akhilesh and Jayant in Varanasi to ensure the victory of their candidates. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who contested from Gorakhpur Urban seat, not just won his seat but also helped his party candidates win all nine seats of the district. However, despite all hard work, the BJP’s tally reduced to 86 in the region from 114 seats in 2017. Even the BSP, which had won 12 seats in 2017, could win just one this time. The SP, however, won 55 seats against 16 in 2017 — gaining 39 seats.
Even regional parties gained from the loss of the BJP and the BSP in this region. The Nishad Party, a BJP ally, which claims itself to be representative of the boatsmen and fishermen community won six seats against one seat in 2017. Similarly, SP’s ally Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party, which had won four seats in alliance with the BJP in 2017, won six seats this election as an SP partner. The Congress’ however, managed to win two seats in this region. The election also witnessed Raghuraj Pratap Singh’s (Raja Bhaiya) Jansatta Dal Lok Tantrik Party winning two seats.
- The Indian Express website has been rated GREEN for its credibility and trustworthiness by Newsguard, a global service that rates news sources for their journalistic standards.
