What worked for SP, Congress in UP: Smooth alliance, consistent messaging on jobs, Constitution

While the Uttar Pradesh results shocked the BJP, they also took the INDIA bloc by surprise, which could not have imagined finishing ahead of the BJP in a state that had been swept by the BJP the past two times. Post-Ram Temple consecration, the BJP was seen as invincible. However, in the final count, the Samajwadi Party (SP) on its own finished with 37 constituencies in the state, four seats ahead of the BJP, with the INDIA coalition also getting more than the NDA.

One crucial factor, party leaders say, was the effective alliance coordination between the SP and Congress from top to bottom, attracting votes from across the caste spectrum. Not only did INDIA get the votes of OBCs, who have so far favoured the BJP, but it was also able to consolidate its Dalit and minority votes, which had shown signs of fraying.

INDIA’s consistent campaign around the message of “Saving the Constitution” also worked on the ground, with the Dalits especially apprehensive that reservations for them would be a casualty of any such changes. With the BSP non-present on the ground, Dalits saw INDIA as their most viable option.

Even in 2019, when the SP and BSP had tied up in UP, SP candidates had not managed to get the support of a majority of the Dalit votes. In fact, the BJP had won 15 of the 17 SC-reserved constituencies in UP, with two going to the BSP. Three of the winners from these seats had been made Union ministers.

This time, indicating the Dalit vote shift, the SP won seven of these 17 seats, the Congress another, while the BJP got eight. One reserved seat, Nagina, won by the BSP in 2019, went to Chandra Shekhar Azad of the Aazad Samaj Party this time.

The seats the BJP lost included two from which Union ministers were in the fray – Kaushal