Lucknow: Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) seems to have lost much of its political strength in Uttar Pradesh. The party won 206 seats and formed the government in 2007, but it now has no MLA in the state assembly.
BSP still has an impact
With the party’s presence in the assembly now gone, the question for the BJP, the SP and the Congress is where these voters go next. Gandhi’s focus on Dalit issues and Akhilesh Yadav’s efforts to reach out to the community are taking place against this changing political equation in the state.
The party’s lone MLA, Umashankar Singh, later died, leaving the BSP without representation in the House. The electoral strength of the BSP has also fallen. This is why the BSP’s vote base has become important to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Congress. The parties are looking at sections of voters who could move away from Mayawati’s party in the coming electoral cycle. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has repeatedly raised issues concerning Dalit rights, the Manusmriti, alleged atrocities against the community and the purification row involving party president Mallikarjun Kharge. Those tracking Uttar Pradesh politics see this as part of the Congress’s attempt to rebuild a social base among voters who once formed an important part of its support.
Mayawati left office in 2012 after completing a five-year term. The BSP had expected to make a comeback in the 2017 assembly election, but the party’s decline continued. Its tally fell from 206 seats in 2007 to one seat in 2022. It secured around 12% of the vote in the 2022 assembly election and 9.3% in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The party won no Lok Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh in 2024, but its vote share still gives it weight in close contests. A vote share of around 10% can affect the result in constituencies where the main parties are separated by a small margin.
