Lok Sabha Elections 2024: UP BJP leadership flooded with complaints of internal sabotage from losing candidates

For analysing the defeat in detail, the state leadership has sought a seat wise report from the local leaders.

Lucknow: Stunned by its below par performance in Uttar Pradesh in the Lok Sabha polls, the state BJP leadership has sought a seat wise report from the local leaders detailing the reasons behind the loss where it failed to retain its seats and also where the victory margins of the party nominees declined sharply.

The decision to seek seat wise reports was taken after the state leadership was flooded with complaints of ''internal sabotage'' from the losing candidates from different parts of the state.

According to the sources in the BJP, more than a dozen party candidates, who lost the polls from their respective constituencies, sent reports to the state leadership many of the senior leaders of their own party not only did not campaign for them but 'tacitly' supported their rivals leading to their defeat.

Sources said that the losing candidates had used terms like 'bhitarghat' (internal sabotage' and ''aastin ke saamp'' (devil in disguise) in their reports.

''Mere apno ne hi meri peeth mein khanjar ghompa'' (My own party leaders stabbed me in the back), said a losing candidate in his report.

Sources said that a senior leader of one of the alliance partners of the BJP also told the saffron party leadership here that some senior BJP leaders worked against her in her constituency and though she managed to win, her victory margin declined sharply.

A BJP candidate from Lalganj LS seat in Azamgarh district, who lost the poll, said in her complaint that some party leaders openly helped the Samajwadi Party (SP) nominee in the constituency leading to her defeat. 

BJP nominee Arun Govil, who managed to scrape through by a slender margin from Meerut, had also indirectly accused some leaders of supporting his rival candidate.

''We have taken a serious note of the complaints....a detailed report has been sought which will be sent to the national leadership...we will make sure that strict action is taken against the leaders who worked against official nominees,'' a senior UP BJP leader said while speaking to DH here on Monday.

Sources said that the issue had also come up during the meeting of the state leadership here a couple of days back. 

BJP, which had won 62 seats in the 2019 LS polls in the state, saw its tally going down by almost half and could win only 32 seats this time. The party lost many of its strongholds, including Ayodhya. It suffered reverses almost across the state and even its alliance partners, barring the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), faced drubbing in their bastions.

The victory margins of many senior BJP leaders, including prime minister Narendra Modi, who was in the fray in Varanasi, registered sharp decline. Modi managed to win his seat by little over 1.5 lakh votes this time though his victory margin in the 2019 LS poll was 4.79 lakh.

Lok Sabha Election 2024 results | Check all constituency results here

Odisha Assembly poll 2024 results| Check constituency results here

Andhra Pradesh Assembly poll 2024 results | Check constituency results here

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