The Bharatiya Janata Party, which has been performing well on the Lok Sabha seats reserved for the Scheduled Castes in Uttar Pradesh in the last two general elections, has got a jolt in the latest one.
Of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in the state, 17 are reserved for the SCs (Dalits).
The BJP won eight of them while the Opposition parties won nine of these reserved seats.
While the Samajwadi Party won seven seats, the Congress won one and the new "hero" of Dalit politics, Azad Samaj Party-Kanshi Ram chief Chandrashekhar Azad, won from the Nagina constituency.
The BJP had registered a one-sided victory on all the 17 SC-reserved seats in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. But in 2019, out of these 17 seats, it lost Nagina and Lalganj seats to the Bahujan Samaj Party.
The remaining 14 seats were won by the BJP and one seat of Robertsganj was won by BJP's ally Apna Dal-S.
In the 2024 general elections, the BJP has won only eight reserved seats -- Bulandshahr, Hathras, Agra, Shahjahanpur, Hardoi, Misrikh, Bansgaon and Bahraich.
On the other hand, the Samajwadi Party won Robertsganj, Machhlishahr, Lalganj, Kaushambi, Jalaun, Mohanlalganj and Etawah seats. The Congress won from Barabanki and the Azad Samaj Party won from Nagina.
In the 2024 elections, when SP chief Akhilesh Yadav declared nine-time MLA and Dalit community member Awadhesh Prasad as the candidate for the general seat of Faizabad (Ayodhya), people were shocked. But Prasad defeated two-time MP and former minister Lallu Singh from the prestigious seat.
The BSP, which once reached the pinnacle of politics and power on the basis of Dalit vote bank, could not even open its account.
Congress leader PL Punia, a former MP and former chairman of National Scheduled Caste Commission, told PTI that last time some SC votes went to the BSP and some went to the BJP. He claimed that this time none went to the BJP and only a limited number went to the BSP.
"This time, the entire vote shifted to INDIA bloc," Punia said.
Punia was elected Congress MP from Barabanki Lok Sabha constituency in 2009.
His son Tanuj Punia, who was once close to Mayawati, defeated BJP candidate Rajrani Rawat by 2,15,704 votes on Barabanki (reserved) seat.
Asked the reason for the Dalits voting for the INDIA bloc, Punia said, "The INDIA bloc promised Rs 1 lakh annually, jobs, unemployment allowance and minimum wage of Rs 400 for the poor families. This was quite effective."
Apart from this, the people were cautioned by the claims of the BJP leaders that they need over 400 seats to change the Constitution made by Baba Saheb Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar.
Punia said, "Both these things came from the BJP itself. So the voters became alert that they will not let the Constitution change under any circumstances. This was a big factor."
"It is well known that the Bahujan Samaj Party has joined hands with the BJP. So the Dalits voted in large numbers for the INDIA bloc. We will live up to their expectations,' he said.
Talking about the crushing defeat, a BSP worker, "We have suffered losses due to Behenji (Mayawati) announcing the removal of her nephew and successor Akash Anand from all posts in the middle of the election.'
BJP's Kamlesh Paswan was declared victorious from Bansgaon seat by a margin of just 3,150 votes. On the other hand, prominent leaders like Union minister Kaushal Kishore from Mohanlalganj and Bhanu Pratap Verma from Jalaun also had to face defeat this time.
With more than half of the reserved seats being occupied by the opposition parties, political analysts have started claiming that the BJP has failed in the management of the reserved seats.
Dr Sushil Pandey, professor of History department in Baba Saheb Ambedkar Central University, Lucknow and author of the book 'Caste and Politics in Democracy', told PTI, "It is too early to reach any conclusive point in this, but it cannot be denied that the anger of the voters over the selection of the BJP's candidates, the slogans about saving the Constitution, protecting reservation and increasing the amount of ration given by the opposition parties attracted the Dalits towards them."
During the election campaign, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and SP chief Akhilesh Yadav had alleged that the ruling BJP will change the Constitution and end reservation if the NDA wins more than 400 seats.
A senior BJP leader, on the condition of anonymity, said, "We thought that the traditional vote bank of the BSP is ours as the party is weakening and also because of our distribution of five kg of food grains. But a large number of Dalits came under the influence of the leaders of the opposition alliance in the name of saving the Constitution and reservation."
He said its effect was not only on the seats reserved for the Dalits but also on the general seats where the candidates of the opposition parties got the votes of the Dalit.
The INDIA bloc has also made new experiments to woo the Dalits which comprise 29 per cent of the population.
After the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya, top BJP leaders were accusing the opposition parties of rejecting the invitation for the consecration ceremony and for being anti-Sanatan.
But in the same Ayodhya, the SP's strategy of fielding Prasad clicked and he defeated the BJP candidate Lallu Singh, who was a kar sevak of the Ram Mandir movement.
Political analyst and Dalit thinker Rakesh Kumar, a resident of Ghazipur, told PTI that Akhilesh Yadav had certainly taken a big risk by fielding a Dalit candidate on a general seat. But he reaped benefits not only in Ayodhya but also on other seats of the state.
In Uttar Pradesh, Nagina, Bulandshahr, Hathras, Agra, Shahjahanpur, Hardoi, Misrikh, Etawah, Bahraich, Mohanlalganj, Jalaun, Kaushambi, Barabanki, Lalganj, Machhlishahr, Bansgaon and Robertsganj Lok Sabha seats are reserved for the SCs.
