UP: Smaller parties, independents decimated

Smaller parties and independents, who extracted their pound of flesh during the coalition governments in the past 14 years in Uttar Pradesh, have been decimated in the Bahujan Samaj Party wave with just 26 candidates winning.

A staggering 3,937 contestants from over 100 small parties and including 2,581 independents were in the fray in the just concluded elections. In the previous elections independents and small parties accounted for 32 legislators.

The left front -- Communist Party of india-Marxist, Communist Party of India, Forward Bloc and Revolutionary Socialist Party -- drew a blank when all its 46 candidates were defeated. In the outgoing assembly, Left had a token presence with CPI-M having two legislators.

Two little known outfits -- Lok Pritran Party and Bharat Punarnirman Dal -- which made news since they were formed by students from IIT-Kanpur could not impress voters when they drew a blank. They together had fielded 10 candidates.

Of the 26 winners in the others and independents groups, Ajit Aingh's Rashtriya Lok Dal accounted for 10 seats while 11 independents won. RPD won two seats while Bhartiya Janshakti, Jan Morcha and UPUDF won one each. RLD, which fielded 150 candidates, won 15 seats last time.

The UPUDF had some consolation when Haji Yaqoob Qureshi, who made news for seeking the Danish cartoonist's head, won from Meerut.

RPD, which won two seats, was founded by the mafia turned politician D P Yadav, the father of the Nitish Katara murder case prime accused Vikas Yadav.

The Apna Dal, an ally of BJP, was trounced as it failed to secure even one seat after contesting from 40 constituencies.