EC data belies SP's claims on 'narrow margin wins for BJP'

A claim that the BJP, which has come back to power for a second consecutive term in Uttar Pradesh, won seven seats in the assembly polls by 200 votes and 23 seats by 500 votes is incorrect,  if one goes by data collected by news agency PTI.

According to Election Commission data, there is no seat in the 403-member assembly where the margin is 200 or less. The lowest margin is in Dhampur seat where BJP’s Ashok Kumar Rana defeated his nearest rival, Samajwadi Party’s (SP) Naeem-ul-Hasan, by 203 votes.

Apart from this, BJP’s candidate from Kursi, Sakendra Verma, defeated his nearest rival Rakesh Verma of SP by 217 votes.

The margin is more than 200 votes in six seats, three going to the BJP and three to the SP. While BJP won Dhampur, Kursi and Nehtaur, SP bagged Chandpur, Isauli and Ram Nagar.

Declaring that democracy was robbed, the SP’s national spokesperson I P Singh claimed in a tweet on March 13: “BJP won 7 seats by 200 votes, 23 seats by 500 votes, 49 seats by 1000 votes, 86 seats by 2000 votes.” This claim was widely shared on social media platforms.

In fact, the BJP won only seven seats — Baraut, Bilaspur, Dhampur, Katra, Kursi, Nakud and Nehtaur seats — by less than 500 votes, Election Commission figures reveal.

The BJP was defeated in 19 seats by a margin of fewer than 5,000 votes. In six seats, it was defeated by less than 1,000 votes.

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Moreover, the SP was defeated by less than 5,000 votes in 27 seats while its ally Rashtriya Lok Dal lost three seats by a close margin.

In messages circulated widely on social media, Asaduddin Owaisi’s All India Majlis Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) is being held responsible for the SP’s defeat in these seats. However, the AIMIM did not field its candidate on 22 of these 30 seats. So the claim that Owaisi’s party is responsible for the defeat of the SP alliance is also not true. According to updated data on the Election Commission website, there are 52 seats where the margin of victory and defeat is 5,000 or less.

The results of the seven phases of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections were declared on March 10. The Yogi Adityanath-led state unit of the BJP won 255 seats, well over the halfway mark, while its allies Apna Dal (Sonelal) got 12 and Nishad Party six.

The SP got 111 seats, the RLD eight and the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party six seats. The Congress and Jansatta Dal Loktantrik got two seats each and Bahujan Samaj Party got one seat.

(With inputs from agencies)