Akhilesh Yadav and Yogi Adityanath
In the Lok Sabha elections held in May 2024, the Bharatiya Janata Party had lost badly in Uttar Pradesh, the country’s largest state. Samajwadi Party became the largest party with the help of PDA equation and alliance but even after 6 months Akhilesh could not sustain it. An example of this was also seen in the UP by-elections.
The SP could only win 2 out of 9 seats in the UP by-elections. It is said that the main reason for the defeat is the lessons of May. It is said that Akhilesh did not remember the lessons of May, thanks to which he won the elections and that is why there was a game with the SP in the by-elections.
Kundarki and Katehari constituencies lost seats
The Samajwadi Party had won seats in Kundarki and Katehri in the 2022 assembly elections, but this time in the by-elections, the SP lost badly in both the seats.
The SP was also in the fray for the Phulpur and Majhwan seats, but the party did not win here either. The SP could only register victory in Karhal and Sisamau seats.
Non-Yadavs couldn’t keep OBCs together
Akhilesh Yadav had transformed UP politics by bringing non-Yadav OBCs with him in the Lok Sabha elections. The SP had won a record 36 seats for the first time. In this election, Akhilesh definitely gave tickets to non-Yadav OBCs, but he could not succeed.
Akhilesh certainly tried to work with the castes in the distribution of tickets, but it did not come out of the families of the leaders. Lalji Verma’s wife was named as the candidate in Katehari. Similarly, Ramesh Bind’s daughter Jyoti Bind occupied the Majhwan seat. Akhilesh’s party lost both seats.
In Phulpur, Akhilesh fielded a Muslim candidate against a Kurmi candidate. Here too Akhilesh could not win the match.
The congressmen left the party and stayed home in the by-elections.
Earlier, Akhilesh Yadav was trying to take Congress with him in connection with the by-elections, but after the Haryana elections, he became overconfident. He talked about giving only one seat to Congress. Seeing that things were not working out, Akhilesh offered 2 seats to the Congress, but the Congress refused to accept them as well.
Congress supported the PS in the by-elections without a fight. At first the congressmen also talked about campaigning, but the party leaders stayed out of the electoral campaign. The Congress’s stay at home also proved detrimental to the SP. Especially in seats like Phulpur and Majhwan.
The Congress has political dominance in Majhwan. This time, in the by-elections, the Congress wanted this seat for itself, but the SP refused to give it to them. The SP lost here by about 10 thousand votes.
The message that if we stick together we will be safe could not be conveyed.
To mitigate the caste-based advantage, the BJP had given the slogan of “If we divide, we will be cut off and if we remain united, we will be safe” in UP. UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath repeated these slogans at every rally.
Akhilesh could not find a response to this slogan in the entire election. Akhilesh continued calling it just a negative slogan. The result was that the Samajwadi Party lost the elections even in Muslim-dominated seats like Kundarki and Meerapur.
To mitigate the Hindutva politics of the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections, the Indian Alliance had given the slogan of Constitution, which turned out to be quite effective.
SP leaders lagged behind in stand management
Akhilesh Yadav could not understand the modus operandi of the by-elections. In most places, SP voters could not vote at all. Akhilesh Yadav definitely managed to make it a problem but he couldn’t get the advantage in terms of numbers. In Meerapur, Katehari, Kundarki and SP supporters could not cast their votes.
The SP also complained about this to the Election Commission, but the complaint had no effect.
