A new political party launched by a group of former students of Indian Institute of Technology-Kanpur with the lofty aim of bringing about a change in the political system has failed to take off in the assembly polls with the nominees fielded by it even failing to secure deposits.
The candidates of the party, Bharat Punah Nirman Dal, had got only a total of 2940 votes from three Assembly seats -- Generalganj, Arya Nagar and Kalyanpur -- they contested.
This number is less than the votes obtained by some of the independents.
The former IITians, who took an active part in the anti-reservation agitation, launched the party on the election eve.
They contacted students of various other educational institutions to secure their co-operation and had made a door-to-door campaign to get the support of intellectuals and others.
Bharat Punah Nirman Dal spokesman Omendra Pratap Singh claimed that contesting assembly seats was just an initial test and the party would emerge as a powerful alternative in the coming parliamentary elections.