BSP, AIMIM Muslim candidates hurt SP's prospects in UP polls

SP candidates lost Muslim dominated seats by margins ranging from as low as 217 votes to 1700 votes

BSP, along with Asaduddin Owaisi's All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) were able to severally damage the Samajwadi Party (SP) in the UP elections.

The parties failed to make an impact otherwise, with BSP securing just one seat, while AIMIM failed to open its account in the recently concluded Uttar Pradesh assembly polls.

An analysis of the results revealed that the Muslim candidates of the AIMIM, which had contested from 100 seats and secured under one per cent votes, hurt the SP's prospects on around a dozen seats in the elections. All but one AIMIM candidate lost their security deposits in the polls.

SP candidates lost Muslim dominated seats like Bijnore, Nakud, Kursi, Shahganj, Sultanpur, Aurai and Moradabad City, by margins ranging from as low as 217 votes to 1700 votes.

The AIMIM nominee secured over eight thousand votes in Kursi assembly constituency which the SP lost by a margin of only 217 votes to BJP. Similarly Muslim dominated Shahganj seat also slipped away from the grip of the SP as the AIMIM Muslim nominee walked away with over eight thousand votes while the SP candidate lost to BJP by only 468 votes.

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In the Nakud seat, SP nominee Dharam Singh Saini was defeated by the BJP candidate by a slender margin of 315 votes. The AIMIM candidate polled more than three thousand votes. Similarly from Sultanpur seat the SP candidate lost to BJP by one thousand votes. The AIMIM candidate, who too was a Muslim, secured over five thousand votes.

BSP, which had gone solo in the polls, had fielded as many as 91 Muslim candidates in the elections many of whom divided the Muslim votes in a number of assembly constituencies ensuring victory of the BJP.

Besides, as many as 16 non-Muslim candidates of the BSP hailed from the same caste to which the SP nominees belonged and as a result they also hurt the SP's electoral prospects on those assembly seats.

Of the 122 seats where the SP and BSP nominees hailed from the same community, the BJP managed to win 68 seats.

From Firozabad seat, which was a Muslim dominated constituency, the BSP's Muslim candidate secured 38 thousand votes while the victory margin of the BJP nominee was 33 thousand. Congress too had fielded a Muslim candidate from this seat, who had secured over five thousand votes. SP finished second on the seat.

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