Lucknow, Nov 23 (PTI) BSP's electoral slide continued in Uttar Pradesh, with the party failing to open its account in the bypolls. BSP candidates were pushed to the third spot in seven seats while in two seats, they finished a dismal fifth, below even Azad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram) and AIMIM candidates.

The party's poor show opened it to the charge of being a "vote katva" -- a term meant to accuse the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) of cutting into votes of Samajwadi Party, especially in Katehari and Phulpur, in favour of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Also Read | Maharashtra Assembly Elections Results 2024: PM Narendra Modi Calls CM Eknath Shinde, Congratulates on Mahayuti's Win.

Accusing the BSP of reducing his party's votes in the bypolls, Samajwadi Party spokesperson Deepak Ranjan told PTI that the BSP has been acting as the "B-team of the BJP".

"The BSP fielded its candidates in the bypolls to benefit the BJP," he said.

Also Read | Maharashtra Assembly Poll Results Unexpected, Incomprehensible; Something Fishy, Says Uddhav Thackeray.

The Mayawati-led party posted its best show in Katehari, where its candidate Amit Verma got 41,647 votes to emerge third. SP leaders alleged that the BSP helped BJP's Dharmraj Nishad win the seat by cutting into the votes of SP's Shobhawati Verma who lost the elections by 34,514 votes.

The BSP has promptly rejected the charge.

The BSP's worst show was in Kundarki, where the party's candidate Rafatulla polled a meagre 1,099 votes. Ramveer Singh of the BJP won the Kundarki assembly seat defeating SP's Mohammad Rizwan by a massive 1,44,791 votes.

Ramveer Singh received 1,70,371 votes against Mohammad Rizwan's 25,580 votes.

In Phulpur, SP candidate Mohammad Mujtaba Siddiqui lost to BJP's Deepak Patel by a margin of 11,305 votes. BSP's Jitendra Kumar Singh got 20,342 votes in the bypoll.

In Meerapur, BSP candidate Shahnazar got 3,248 votes and stood fifth. Here, RLD's Mithilesh Pal won with 84,304 votes defeating her nearest rival SP's Sumbul Rana by 30,796 votes. Zahid Hussain of Aazad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram) stood in third place securing 22,661 votes, followed by the AIMIM's Mohd Arshad (18,869 votes).

BSP candidate in Ghaziabad Parmanand Garg stood third, polling 10,736 votes. In the Khair (SC) seat, party candidate Pahal Singh got 13,365 votes finishing third while in the Karhal seat, too, Avinash Kumar Shakya stood in third place with 8,409. In Sishamau, BSP's Virender Kumar stood third spot winning merely 1,410 votes while in the Majhawan seat, BSP candidate Deepak Tiwari polled 34,927 votes to emerge third.

BSP's UP unit chief Vishwanath Pal on Saturday told PTI: "We accept the people's verdict. We will examine shortcomings and seek people's feedback on how to overcome them." Pal however sounded confident of BSP's ability to bounce back.

"We are gearing up for the 2027 UP Assembly elections. We will work hard and are confident of forming the next government," Pal said.

Right through the bypolls senior BSP leaders were conspicuous by their absence. BSP chief Mayawati did not attend any public meeting or hold a rally for party candidates while her nephew and senior office bearer Akash Anand as well as Rajya Sabha MP Satish Chandra Mishra didn't campaign.

Earlier on Sunday, Pal told PTI, "On the orders of behenji (Mayawati), I and the party's coordinator and district president are campaigning vigorously for the party candidates on all the nine seats where bypolls are being held."

Asked about Mayawati and Anand's absence from public meetings and rallies, Pal had said, "Behenji and Akash bhaiya are busy in assembly elections of Jharkhand and Maharashtra. Apart from this, I have not received any order or instruction from the national leaders of my party."

The indifference of the big leaders seems to be affecting the morale of the party candidates.

BSP candidate from Sishamau assembly constituency in Kanpur, Virendra Kumar had also said the BSP's campaign was going well. He told PTI: "We had asked the party office for the programme of party president behenji (Mayawati) and Akash bhaiya. If either behenji or Akash bhaiya had come to our Sishamau area, the campaign would have been made even better."

Amit Verma, the BSP candidate from Ambedkar Nagar's Katehari assembly, said, "Katehari is a stronghold of the BSP. It was behenji (Mayawati) who created this district. We had asked the party office for the programme of big leaders. But, we did not get any reply.

"If behenji or any other leader had come for the election campaign, the enthusiasm of party workers would have doubled."

The BJP on Saturday registered emphatic wins in six assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh, while its ally -- the Rashtriya Lok Dal -- clinched victory on the lone seat of Meerapur contested by it.

BJP candidates emerged victorious in Kundarki, Ghaziabad, Khair (SC), Phulpur, Katehari and Majhawan assembly seats. Samajwadi Party won the remaining two seats -- Karhal and Sishamau, according to the Election Commission.

Eight of these seats fell vacant after their MLAs were elected as Lok Sabha MPs, while bypoll was held on the Sishamau seat due to the disqualification of SP MLA Irfan Solanki, who was convicted in a criminal case.

In the 2022 assembly polls, Sishamau, Katehari, Karhal and Kundarki were held by the SP, while the BJP won Phulpur, Ghaziabad, Majhawan and Khair. The Meerapur seat was held by the RLD, which is now an ally of the BJP in the NDA.

The Congress did not contest the bypolls and supported its INDIA bloc partner SP, while the BSP went solo on all nine seats.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)