Akhilesh Yadav's PDA pitch powers Samajwadi Party to stop BJP juggernaut in Uttar Pradesh

Out of 80 seats, the highest in any Indian state, SP alone won 37 with its ally Congress bagging 6 ahead of BJP's 35.

In close analysis, Akhilesh's pitch for PDA (Pichhda, Dalit and Alpsankhak) comprising OBC, Dalit and Muslim candidates did the trick for the SP, which was thrashed in 2014 and 2019 polls.

As per reports, 37 SP MPs comprise 20 from the OBC, 8 from SC and 4 from the Muslim community.

Interestingly, SP's Dalit candidate Awdhesh Prasad emerged victorious from Faizabad, which locates Ayodhya Ram Temple, defeating BJP's Lallu Singh by over 54,000 votes.

Photo courtesy: Akhilesh Yadav Facebook

The Faizabad constituency has assumed importance as Ram Temple, which was inaugurated by Prime Minister-elect Narendra Modi in January 2024, was a major poll plank for the BJP.

Among Congress' 6 MP-elects, 3 are from OBC, SC and Muslim community.

In quite an opposite picture, BJP has won maximum from the upper caste, which forms 45 percent of the total number of its winning candidates.

Out of 35, 15 MP-elects are from the upper caste. Among the rest, 10 are OBC and 8 are SC.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, SP had 5 MPs out of which 3 were Muslims and 2 OBCs.

The BJP, which had won a whooping 62 MPs in the same year, had 45 percent of its elected representatives from the upper castes, in quite a similar scenario to what has happened in the 2024 elections that saw Modi returning with a weaker mandate and support of allies.