Tuesday, 22 February 2022 | PNS | Dehradun
In the assembly elections of Uttarakhand the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) are trying hard to make their presence felt in the bipolar political scenario of the state. Though AAP has made a serious attempt to make a niche for itself in Uttarakhand for the first time in this election the BSP has remained a potent political force in the state ever since it was created in the year 2000. This time too its candidates are expected to perform well in some constituencies of Haridwar and Udham Singh Nagar districts.
In the elections of 2002, 2007 and 2012 the BSP performed well by cornering a good number of votes but it was decimated in the Modi wave in the elections of 2017. For the first time ever since the creation of Uttarakhand, BSP failed to open its account in the Uttarakhand assembly in 2017. What was more painful for the party was that its vote share, which was consistently on the rise in the first three elections, took a plunge in the last assembly election.
This time the party is hoping to regain its lost ground in the districts of Haridwar and Udham Singh Nagar. Both these districts have a sizeable population of Dalit and Muslims, the traditional vote banks of the party in the state. Haridwar district with a population of about eight lakh Dalit and Muslim votes holds the key for party’s performance in state. In the elections of 2012 the party was able to garner 29 percent of total polled votes from 11 constituencies of Haridwar district with its candidates winning from Bhagwanpur, Jhabreda and Manglaur seats.
The trends pouring in from different parts of the state suggest that the BSP candidates could spring a surprise for both Congress and BJP in Laksar, Manglaur, Jhabreda and Khanpur seats of Haridwar and Sitarganj seat of Udham Singh Nagar district.
The BSP got 10.9 percent votes and won seven seats in the first assembly elections of the state in the year 2002. In the elections of 2007, the party increased its vote percentage to 11.8 to bag eight seats. In the elections held in the year 2012, the party further increased its vote share and cornered 12.2 percent of total votes polled but could manage to win only three seats (Manglaur, Bhagwanpur and Jhabreda). However the party assumed the position of Kingmaker and facilitated the formation of a Congress government in the state. In last assembly elections BSP could manage only seven per cent vote share and could not win even in a single seat in the state.
Performance of BSP in Uttarakhand
Assembly elections Vote percentage Seats won 2002 10.9 07 2007 11.8 08 2011 12.2 03 2017 7.0 00
