Numbers Game

Why the Samajwadi Party failed to draw non-Yadav OBC votes away from the BJP / Politics

- SUNIL KASHYAP

On 10 March 2022, the Bharatiya Janata Party won the assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh and set a few records in the process. The BJP became the first party to win two consecutive assembly elections in the state since 1985, and Ajay Singh Bisht, popularly known as Yogi Adityanath, will become the first chief minister in the state’s history to complete a full tenure and win a second successive term. While the saffron party won fewer seats this time—255— compared to its tally of 312 in 2017, it increased its vote share from 39.67 percent in 2017, to 41.29 percent. This is a signal that the power equation in the state heavily favours the BJP despite the fight put up by the Samajwadi Party, which emerged as the principal opposition party with a vote share of 32.06 percent, as compared to its previous tally of 21.82 percent.

The enthusiastic participation of huge crowds in the SP’s campaign rallies seemed to suggest that its electoral planks of social justice and unity would provide tough competition to the Hindutva politics of the BJP. The results, however, raised several questions. Why were the pertinent issues of unemployment, inflation, the mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic, the menace of stray cattle, communal polarisation and the farmer’s protest not reflected in the populace’s electoral choices?