Assembly elections: 3rd largest in 2008, BSP fails to score this time in Delhi

NEW DELHI: Bahujan Samaj Party’s ambition to play a key role in Delhi’s electoral politics was nipped in the bud by Aam Aadmi Party which emerged as the second largest party in the assembly election on Sunday. The third largest party in the state with 14.05% vote share in 2008, it failed to win a single seat this time around. Even party supremo Mayawati’s aggressive campaigning in the city could not consolidate its traditional vote banks.

Senior party leaders admit the Valmiki community , which is BSP’s traditional vote bank, did not vote for it in large numbers. “We suffered majorly owing to AAP. We need to assess the reason for our loss, especially in strongholds. It appears that the Valmiki community didn’t vote for us in strength. The issues of electricity tariff and inflation are what helped AAP,” ML Tomar, in-charge of Delhi elections, said.

BSP was hoping to gain from the anti-incumbency wave against the Congress government. In 2008, it had emerged as the third largest party in Delhi as it was the only option after Congress and BJP. But this time, Delhiites saw an alternative in AAP.

Mayawati’s marathon rallies in the city didn’t yield any result as BSP suffered a miserable defeat in its strongholds—Gokalpur and Badarpur. Banking on SC, Muslim and migrant voters, the party was hoping to get 6-8 seats in this assembly election. In eight rallies, Mayawati had touched upon the issues concerning backward classes, migrants and Muslims living in the city. The show of strengthen at these rallies didn’t translate into votes.

In constituencies like Mustafabad, Badli, Babarpur , Sultanpur Majra, Shahdara and Seelampur, it hoped to gain in the wake of Muzaffarnagar riots and had fielded 15 Muslim candidates. Here, the party stood fourth or fifth. Party sources admit AAP spoiled its chances of increasing its representation in Delhi assembly. “There was a strong AAP undercurrent and we didn’t realize it,” said a BSP leader.

Not just AAP, other political parties like Janata Dal (United), Peace Party, NCP and even independents performed better than BSP in Dwarka, Chandni Chowk, Jangpura, Gandhi Nagar, Seemapuriand Krishna Nagar. In Babarpur, which BSP was hopeful of winning as it lost the constituency in 2008 by a small margin, its candidate polled 6th highest votes—5,019.