UP Elections 2012: SP Akhilesh Yadav
The firebrand chief minister of Uttar Pradesh was set to lose office after her Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) fell to a projected 80 seats in the 403-seat state assembly after winning 206 in the previous election.
Samajwadi Party seems set to sweep back to power in India’s largest state Uttar Pradesh. What’s more, it looks increasingly likely that it will not need the Congress’ support to form a government. The SP is leading in 224 seats, of the total 403 seats for a simple majority.
Mayawati, 56, who only uses one name, rose from a community of “untouchables” (now known as Dalits) at the bottom of the Hindu caste structure to rule over Uttar Pradesh, a state in northern India with a population of 200 million. She attracted strong support from Dalits and other marginalised groups who saw her as a doughty champion of the poor fighting against the ruling elite in New Delhi. Within a decade, Mayawati had become chief minister of Uttar Pradesh for the first of her four stints in power as she battled for control in the turbulent world of politics in the northern state.
Mulayam Singh Yadav, whose Samajwadi Party said that, India’s equity indices shed some of their earlier gains as the SP surged ahead on the leaderboard. However, realty, capital goods and consumer durables stocks were trading higher. All sectoral indices except oil & gas and metal were trading in the green.
According to Venu, the Samajwadi Party’s lead in the UP elections sends the larger message to the Indian economy that reforms will be put on the backburner as there will be more opposition to them. Land acquisition will continue to be a huge concern, he says.
Echoing that sentiment, Shankar said that the two major parties, Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party, haven’t done well and their performance will have implications on the 2014 elections.
Mayawati has often attacked the Congress party government as a corrupt and self-serving cabal that failed to tackle India’s endemic poverty. But she also drew sharp criticism for her own taste for extravagance, as well as allegations of financial malpractice within her state government, both issues seen as major factors in the dramatic collapse in support for her.
Rahul Gandhi, who was the face of Congress campaign in Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh, today owned responsibility for the party’s dismal performance which he termed as a “very good lesson” for him.
The BJP winning 27 seats and leading in 20 others, while the Congress won 13 and leading 15 others, the BSP won 41 and leading 39, and others won 9 and leading 15.
