Mayawati claims credit for Mulayam’s defeat

LUCKNOW: Claiming success in the civic polls, which the BSP virtually won on the back of independents, party chief Mayawati on Friday said her party had transferred votes to the BJP and the Congress at places where it found the SP gaining. She said though the BSP did not field candidates on the party symbol, the party supported large number of independents in the local bodies polls.

“We have received tremendous success in the nagar panchayat and nagar palika elections. The independents supported by our party have emerged successful in majority of the nagar palika and panchayat elections. Even for the 12 mayoral seats, our candidates have cornered sizeable votes and also proved our strength in urban areas,” she said.

She pointed out that independents had dented the performance of SP at places where the BSP found the ruling party in a winning position. The votes were transferred to the BJP and Congress in these seats.

Mayawati also pointed out that since the mayors’ constituency were large, traditional BSP voters got confused due to the different symbols used by the various independent candidates. “The nagar nigam elections comprised mayors and corporators. Due to the varying symbols of the mayoral candidate backed by us and the coprorators in the same city, voters got confused. Hence, wherever we found that the SP gaining due to this confusion, our cadres and voters cast their vote in support of the BJP and the Congress. This was done only to ensure that the SP did not gain at the expense of confusion among our voters,” said Mayawati.

The BSP chief also added that the BJP and the Congress should not exult over their better performance as it was largely brought about by the absence of BSP from the fray and vote transferring. She said had the polls been free and fair, the Samajwadi Party would have faced a humiliating defeat.

Mayawati said her party’s focus was on the assembly polls and that is why the BSP refrained from contesting the local bodies elections. She added that her party was confident of forming the government.

Mayawati also said the independent candidate backed by the BSP in Meerut lost due to polarisation of Muslim votes. “Muslim voters have a tendency to favour hard-liners and hence the contest in Meerut was polarised. We had to consolidate our votes in the BJP’s favour, which eventually won,” said Mayawati. Raising the caste pitch for the assembly polls due next year, she said her party would be holding a meeting of Brahmins on Saturday, organised by party general secretary S C Mishra.