UP alliance’s vote share declined on 51 seats

The Samajwadi Party (SP), the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) had joined hands before the Lok Sabha polls in the hope that their combined vote share would enable them to defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The election results, however, proved otherwise as the alliance’s vote share declined in 51 Lok Sabha constituencies. In 15 constituencies, the decline was by over 10%.

The SP-BSP-RLD contested on 78 Lok Sabha seats barring Amethi and Rae Bareli.

According to the 2014 Lok Sabha poll stats, if the SP-BSP had contested in an alliance five years ago, they would have got the better of the BJP on 41 seats.

Undaunted by arch rivals joining hands, the BJP led coalition in Uttar Pradesh succeeded in increasing its vote share on 74 seats.

In six Lok Sabha constituencies, the BJP’s vote share dipped. In Muzaffarnagar, the decline was as much as 9% but the party still retained the seat, defeating Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Ajit Singh.

As compared to the 2014 elections, poll data analysis revealed that the BJP was the only party to increase its vote share by 20% and above on three seats. The alliance or Mahagathbandhan (MGB) lost 20% or more votes in two constituencies. However, the MGB succeeded in increasing its vote share by 10-20% in seven and by up to 10% in 20 constituencies.

The NDA increased its vote share on 18 seats by 10-20% and by up to 10% on 53 seats.

The MGB’s vote share declined by up to 10% on 36 seats, 10-20% on 13 seats and above 20% on two segments while the BJP loses up to 10% votes on six seats.