No gains for SP, party leaders say must check if BSP votes transferred

If the SP wins all these five seats, its tally will be the same as in 2014. But the party is trailing in its bastions of Kannauj, Firozabad and Badaun. In Kannauj, Akhilesh’s wife Dimple Yadav is trailing behind the BJP candidate by a small margin. In Firozabad, Mulayam’s younger brother and SP rebel Shivpal Singh Yadav has hurt the party’s official candidate – while Shivpal has scored more than 91,000 votes, SP candidate Akshay Yadav is trailing behind the BJP by 28,364 votes.

The BSP, which drew a blank in the 2014 elections, has already won four seats and is leading in six other seats. SP leader and Rajya Sabha member Chandrapal Singh Yadav said, “The results are surprising. We will review the results from each polling station and find out whether the vote were transferred (BSP’s to SP). Another reason could be polarisation of votes because of the alliance.”

Chandrapal Yadav, however, insisted that the alliance had been fruitful. “We have got the votes. There was no loss. Earlier, SP had five seats and BSP zero. Today we have 17-18 seats. So, we cannot call it a loss. The situation would have probably been worse if there was no alliance,” he said.

SP founder and Rajya Sabha member leader Beni Prasad Verma said, “Modi ki aandhi hai to kya kiya jae (what can be done if there is a Modi storm).” On the alliance with the BSP, Verma said, “The alliance was okay but the results went contrary to our expecations.”
Javed Ali Khan, another Rajya Sabha member of the SP, too said the SP and BSP would have been worse off had they not come together. Khan said the alliance failed to sense the impact of the BJP’s nationalism agenda.