UP: BSP ahead in 24, SP in 23, Cong 18 and BJP in 8 seats

16 May 2009, PTI

LUCKNOW: Faced with internal bickerings and an open challenge by one of its senior leaders, the Samajwadi Party, which rescued the Manmohan Singh government after the Left withdrew support on the nuclear deal issue, has emerged a lesser player in Parliament this time around.

69-year-old SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, who once ran the affairs of Uttar Pradesh, and whose party was the fourth largest in the outgoing Lok Sabha, suffered in the elections apparently due to a myriad of factors including a revolt by party's Muslim face Azam Khan after the tie-up with former BJP leader Kalyan Singh.

The party is now slated to win around a score of seats. It had at one stage in the 14th Lok Sabha a tally of 39. But it is still expected to emerge as the largest party in UP.

Heading the government in Uttar Pradesh, the SP had managed to poll 26.74 per cent votes in 2004, surprising its political opponents though its good harvest at the hustings had proved to be of little value at the Centre. During the major portion of UPA's term, the party had failed to break ice with the Congress.

But in July last year, the SP extended support to the UPA during the no-trust vote on the nuclear deal issue but did not join the government, remaining an outside supporter.

This time the SP's proximity with Kalyan Singh came in for criticism not only from Azam Khan, the co-founder of the party in 1992, but other Muslim leaders too. They accused Yadav of tying up with the former UP Chief Minister during whose rule the Babri Masjid was demolished. Politicians like Raj Babbar, Salim Shervani and Shafiqur Rehman Burq had campaigned against the SP.

Meanwhile, top Congress leaders including its president Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi and BJP's Varun Gandhi were leading over their rivals by huge margins in their respective constituencies in Uttar Pradesh with BSP, SP and the Congress virtually running neck-to-neck in trends in the 80 seats in the state/

While Sonia is leading in Rae Bareli by a margin of over 1.42 lakh votes over her BSP rival R S Kushwaha, Rahul has established a lead of over 95,000 votes over Ashish Shukla of BSP in Amethi.

BJP candidate from Pilibhit Varun Gandhi has won against Congress's V M Singh.

Former BJP leader Kalyan Singh, who is contesting as an independent from Etah is leading over his BSP rival Devendra Singh Yadav by a margin of over 38,000 votes.

In Mainpuri, SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav is leading by a margin of over 50,000 votes over Vinay Shakya of BSP.

Cricketer-turned-politician Mohd Azharuddin, who is contesting from Moradabad as Congress nominee, has won against BJP's Sarvesh Kumar.

Former Union Minister and Congress nominee from Sultanpur Sanjay Singh is leading by a margin of over 45,000 votes over Mohd Tahir of BSP.

BJP leader Maneka Gandhi has won against Dharmendra Kumar of SP in Aonla. Due to a mistake in the tabulation of votes, Maneka Gandhi had earlier been reported to have lost by about 22,000 votes, one official said. It was finally found that she had won by about 6,400 votes.