Mayawati says BSP gave neck-and-neck fight in Azamgarh parliamentary bypoll

LUCKNOW: BSP national president Mayawati appreciated the performance of her party, BSP, in the Azamgarh parliamentary bypoll, results for which were declared on Sunday. She said that the party gave a 'neck to neck' fight and that was worth appreciating.
She said in a tweet that it is usually seen that the bypolls are won by the ruling party but given all the designs of the opposition, the ruling BJP and the Samajwadi Party, BSP still gave a tough fight."The party workers of all levels will have to keep moving ahead more strongly."
She added that BSP only has the principles and presence on the ground to beat BJP. The party chief indicated that BSP will continue its efforts to reach out to "specific sections" of the society (hinting at Muslims and Dalits who constituted considerable voters in Azamgarh) to make them understand the party's power and usher in the long-awaited political change in the state.
Shah Alam alias Guddu Jamali was in the fray as BSP candidate from Azamgarh. He came third after BJP's Dinesh Lal Yadav Nirahua and Samajwadi Party's Dharmendra Yadav. BSP had abstained from contesting Rampur parliamentary bypoll openly accepting that the party does not have a ground ready in Rampur and will contest the seat in 2024 general elections.
Azamgarh bypoll was the first election after the UP assembly elections 2022 that the BSP had contested and in which it had fared badly by winning only one seat and got around 12.8% vote.
The party had put 40 star campaigners on job to woo voters in Azamgarh, party chief Mayawati was also the one, who kept reaching out to people through social media and appealed that they should vote for the local candidate (Guddu Jamali is from Azamgarh) and not the outsiders.
She had tweeted that Azamgarh bypoll is a chance for the people to kill two birds with one stone. First, they can teach BJP a lesson for their anti-people schemes like Agnipath and bulldozer-policy and Second, they can give Samajwadi Party a befitting lesson for its tacit understanding with BJP.
BSP was banking heavily on Dalit and Muslim voters for its win in Azamgarh.
A day before the bypoll (which was on June 23), Mayawati said that her party was getting huge support from the people of all religions and sections. "I have full faith that this mass support, irrespective of shenanigans of the opposition, will convert into votes for the party," she said.