UP Assembly Elections: Margin of victory less than 500 votes in 11 seats!

Close contest in 52 seats where victory margin was less than 5,000 votes; BJP won half i.e 26 of these seats

Assembly ElectionImage Courtesy:ibtimes.co.in

The Uttar Pradesh Elections are over and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has managed to retain the state, albeit with fewer seats this time. As opposed to the 2017 victory where they won over 320 seats, this time the BJP could only get 255 seats, because the Samajwadi Party (SP) managed to bounce back. In 2017, the SP was reduced to less than 50 seats, but in 2022, they managed to win 111.

As far as vote share goes, the BJP has managed to corner 41.29 percent of the total votes cast, but the SP too managed an impressive 32.06 percent. But many of the seats were won by a margin of less than 5,000 votes, some be even fewer than 500 votes!

A closer look at the figures reveals that BJP won half of these close contests, winning 26 of the 52 seats where the margin of victory was less than 5,000 votes. In fact, it won 7 out of the 11 seats where margin of victory was less than 500 votes.

Here’s a table that showcases the 52 constituencies, their winners and runners up:

Assembly Seat

Seat No.

Winner

Party

Runner Up

Party

Margin

Aurai

394

Dinanath Bhashkar

Bharatiya Janata Party

i

Anjani

Samajwadi Party

i

1647

Bachhrawan

177

SHYAM SUNDER

Samajwadi Party

i

LAXMIKANT

Apna Dal (Soneylal)

i

2812

Badlapur

364

RAMESH CHANDRA MISHRA

Bharatiya Janata Party

i

OMPRAKASH BABA DUBEY

Samajwadi Party

i

1326

Baheri

118

ATAUR REHMAN

Samajwadi Party

i

CHHATRA PAL SINGH

Bharatiya Janata Party

i

3355

Bahraich

286

ANUPMA JAISWAL

Bharatiya Janata Party

i

YASAR SHAH

Samajwadi Party

i

4078

Baraut

51

KRISHAN PAL MALIK

Bharatiya Janata Party

i

JAIVEER

Rashtriya Lok Dal

i

315

Basti Sadar

310

Mahendra Nath Yadav

Samajwadi Party

i

Dayaram Chaudhary

Bharatiya Janata Party

i

1779

Bhadohi

392

ZAHID

Samajwadi Party

i

RAVINDRA NATH TRIPATHI

Bharatiya Janata Party

i

4885

Bhongaon

108

Ram Naresh Agnihotri

Bharatiya Janata Party

i

Alok Kumar Shakya

Samajwadi Party

i

4767

Bijnor

22

Suchi

Bharatiya Janata Party

i

Neeraj Chaudhary

Rashtriya Lok Dal

i

1445

Bilaspur

36

Baldev Singh Aulakh

Bharatiya Janata Party

i

Amarjeet Singh

Samajwadi Party

i

307

Bindki

239

Jay Kumar Singh Jaiki

Apna Dal (Soneylal)

i

Rameshwar Dayal

Samajwadi Party

i

3797

Bisauli

112

ASHUTOSH MAURYA URF RAJU

Samajwadi Party

i

KUSHAGRA SAGAR

Bharatiya Janata Party

i

1834

Chandpur

23

SWAMI OMVESH

Samajwadi Party

i

KAMLESH SAINI

Bharatiya Janata Party

i

234

Chhibramau

196

Archana Pandey

Bharatiya Janata Party

i

Arvind Singh Yadav

Samajwadi Party

i

1111

Dhampur

20

ASHOK KUMAR RANA

Bharatiya Janata Party

i

NAIM UL HASAN

Samajwadi Party

i

203

Dibiyapur

203

Pradeep Kumar Yadav

Samajwadi Party

i

Lakhan Singh Rajput

Bharatiya Janata Party

i

473

Domariyaganj

306

SAIYADA KHATOON

Samajwadi Party

i

RAGHVENDRA PRATAP SINGH

Bharatiya Janata Party

i

771

Etawah

200

Sarita

Bharatiya Janata Party

i

Sarvesh Kumar Shakya

Samajwadi Party

i

3984

Faridpur

122

PROF. SHYAM BIHARI LAL

Bharatiya Janata Party

i

VIJAY PAL SINGH

Samajwadi Party

i

2921

Ghazipur

375

JAIKISHAN

Samajwadi Party

i

DR. SANGEETA BALWANT

Bharatiya Janata Party

i

1692

Handia

258

HAKIM LAL BIND

Samajwadi Party

i

PRASHANT KUMAR SINGH RAHUL

Nirbal Indian Shoshit Hamara Aam Dal

i

3543

Isauli

187

MOHD TAHIR KHAN

Samajwadi Party

i

OM PRAKASH PANDEY

Bharatiya Janata Party

i

269

Itwa

305

MATA PRASAD PANDEY

Samajwadi Party

i

SATISH CHANDRA

Bharatiya Janata Party

i

1662

Jalalabad

132

Hari Prakash Verma

Bharatiya Janata Party

i

Neeraj Nalinish

Samajwadi Party

i

4572

Jalesar

106

SANJEEV KUMAR

Bharatiya Janata Party

i

RANJEET SUMAN

Samajwadi Party

i

4441

Jasrana

96

SACHIN YADAV

Samajwadi Party

i

MANVENDRA PRATAP SINGH

Bharatiya Janata Party

i

836

Kalpi

220

VINOD CHATURVEDI

Samajwadi Party

i

CHHOTE SINGH

Nirbal Indian Shoshit Hamara Aam Dal

i

2816

Katra

131

Veer Vikram Singh

Bharatiya Janata Party

i

Rajesh Yadav

Samajwadi Party

i

357

Kithore

46

SHAHID MANZOOR

Samajwadi Party

i

SATYAVIR TYAGI

Bharatiya Janata Party

i

2180

Kursi

266

Sakendra Pratap

Bharatiya Janata Party

i

Rakesh Kumar Verma

Samajwadi Party

i

217

Madhuban

353

RAM BILASH CHAUHAN

Bharatiya Janata Party

i

UMESH PANDEY

Samajwadi Party

i

4448

Manikpur

237

AVINASH CHANDRA DWIVEDI

Apna Dal (Soneylal)

i

VEER SINGH PATEL

Samajwadi Party

i

1048

Mariyahu

370

DR R.K. PATEL

Apna Dal (Soneylal)

i

SUSHMA PATEL

Samajwadi Party

i

1206

Meja

259

SANDEEP SINGH

Samajwadi Party

i

NEELAM KARVARIYA

Bharatiya Janata Party

i

3439

Mohammdi

144

LOKENDRA PRATAP SINGH

Bharatiya Janata Party

i

DAUD AHMAD

Samajwadi Party

i

4871

Moradabad Nagar

28

RITESH KUMAR GUPTA

Bharatiya Janata Party

i

MOHD YUSUF ANSARI

Samajwadi Party

i

782

Nakur

2

MUKESH CHOUDHARY

Bharatiya Janata Party

i

DR. DHARAM SINGH SAINI

Samajwadi Party

i

315

Nehtaur

21

OMKUMAR

Bharatiya Janata Party

i

MUNSHIRAM

Rashtriya Lok Dal

i

258

Patiyali

102

Nadira Sultan

Samajwadi Party

i

Mamtesh Shakya

Bharatiya Janata Party

i

4001

Pharenda

315

Virendra Chaudhary

Indian National Congress

i

Bajrang Bahadur Singh

Bharatiya Janata Party

i

1246

Phulpur

256

Praveen Patel

Bharatiya Janata Party

i

Mohd.Mujataba Siddiqui

Samajwadi Party

i

2732

Ram Nagar

267

FAREED MAHFOOZ KIDWAI

Samajwadi Party

i

SHARAD KUMAR AWASTHI

Bharatiya Janata Party

i

261

Raniganj

250

RAKESH KUMAR VERMA ALIAS DR. R. K. VERMA

Samajwadi Party

i

ABHAY KUMAR ALIAS DHIRAJ OJHA

Bharatiya Janata Party

i

2649

Salon

181

ASHOK KUMAR

Bharatiya Janata Party

i

JAGDISH PRASAD

Samajwadi Party

i

2111

Sareni

182

DEVENDRA PRATAP SINGH

Samajwadi Party

i

DHIRENDRA BAHADUR SINGH

Bharatiya Janata Party

i

3807

Shahganj

365

Ramesh

Nirbal Indian Shoshit Hamara Aam Dal

i

Shailendra Yadav Lalai

Samajwadi Party

i

719

Shrawasti

290

Ram Feran

Bharatiya Janata Party

i

Mohhamad Aslam Rainee

Samajwadi Party

i

1457

Sitapur

146

Rakesh Rathour

Bharatiya Janata Party

i

Radhey Shyam Jaiswal

Samajwadi Party

i

1253

Sultanpur

188

VINOD SINGH

Bharatiya Janata Party

i

ANOOP SANDA

Samajwadi Party

i

1009

Tirwa

197

Kailash Rajput

Bharatiya Janata Party

i

Anil Kumar Pal

Samajwadi Party

i

4608

Zaidpur

269

Gaurav Kumar

Samajwadi Party

i

Ambrish Rawat

Bharatiya Janata Party

i

2982

Victory margin of less than 500 votes

The thinnest margin of votes was seen in Dhampur, where Ashok Kumar Rana of the BJP beat the SP’s Naim Ul Hassan by just 203 votes! Some other instances where candidates won by a margin of less than 500 votes are:

  • Kursi, where BJP’s Sakendra Pratap defeated SP’s RK Verma by 217 votes

  • Chandpur, where SP’s Swamy Omvesh defeated BJP’s Kamlesh Saini by 234 votes

  • Nehatur, where BJP’s Om kumar defeated Rashtriya Lok Dal’s (RDL) Munshiram by 258 votes

  • Ram Nagar, where SP’s FM Kidwai defeated BJP’s SK Awasthi by 261 votes

  • Isauli, where SP’s Mohammed Tahir Khan defeated BJP’s Om Prakash Pandey by 269 votes

  • Bilaspur, where BJP’s Baldev Singh Aulakh defeated SP’s Amarjeet Singh by 307 votes

  • Nakur, where BJP’s Mukesh Chaudhry defeated SP’s Dharam Singh Saini by 315 votes

  • Baraut, where BJP’s KP Malik defeated RLD’s Jaiveer by 315 votes

  • Katra, where BJP’s VK Singh defeated SP’s rajesh Yadav by 357 votes

  • Dibiyapur, where SP’s PK Yadav defeated SP’s LS Rajpur by 473 votes

It is noteworthy, that in 7 out of the 11 instances, it was the BJP candidate who won.

Victory margin of 501 to 1,000 votes

Then there were constituencies where the victory margin was still slim, ranging between 501 and 1,000 votes. These are:

  • Shahganj where Nirbal Indian Shoshit Hmara Aam Dal’s (NISHAD) Ramesh defeated SP’s Shailendra Yadav Lalai by w719 votes

  • Domariyaganj where SP’s Sadiya Khatoon defeated BJP’s Raghvendra Singh Rathore by a margin of 771 votes

  • Moradabad Nagar, where BJP’s Ritesh Kumar Gupta defeated SP’s Mohammed Yusuf Ansari by 782 votes

  • Jasrana where SP’s Sachin Yadav defeated BJP’s Mahendra Pratap Singh by 836 votes

In two out of the four cases the winning candidate was from the SP.

Victory margin on 1,001 to 5,000 votes

These was the case in 37 constituencies. Out of these, 18 seats were won by the BJP, 15 by the SP, 3 by Apna Dal (Sonylal) and 1 by the Indian National Congress (INC). While the lowest margin here was a mere 1,009 in Sultanpur where BJP’s Vinod Singh defeated SP’s Anoop Sanda, the highest margin of victory in this bracket was recorded in Mohammdi, where BJP’s LP Singh defeated SP’s Daud Ahmed by 4,871 votes.

Conclusion

All of the above indicate that in many constituencies the candidates won by the skin of their teeth. Out of the 52 seats mentioned, the BJP won in 26 or exactly half the number of seats.

Moreover, the results could have been very different if strong pre-poll alliances had been put in place by like-minded parties, who would agree to only field candidates with the highest likelihood of victory from each constituency. This would have prevented the vote from splitting in many constituencies and the outcome of the election could have changed in at least some of the above 52 constituencies. Though one could argue that even those numbers would not have been sufficient for the SP to dethrone the BJP from UP.

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