SP scored in round following Kalyan's fall
The Samajwadi Party fared far better in the second phase of polling in Uttar Pradesh, on the day after the Kalyan Singh government was toppled, than in the first phase.
The party, which bagged 20 seats in the state, bagged 10 out of the 55 constituencies that went to the polls on February 16. In the second phase, on February 22, during which Sambhal, from which Mulayam Singh was contesting, also went to the polls, his party gained 10 out of the 33 seats. That works out to 19 per cent of the seats in the first round; 30 in the second.
On February 21, Jagdambika Pal withdrew support to the Kalyan Singh government and claimed he was capable of cobbling together a government. Among others, he said he had the backing of Mulayam Singh's Samajwadi Party and Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party.
Governor Romesh Bhandari then appointed Jagdambika Pal chief minister. It took a decision by the Allahabad high court to dislodge Pal, by which time the polling was over.
Of the 20 seats the SP won this time, it retained only five, wresting 15 from the Bharatiya Janata Party, a big gain over the competiton at a time when it lost 11 seats overall.
UNI
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