How BSP's vote share, if shifted to INDIA bloc, could have hurt BJP more in Uttar Pradesh?

As per the poll results, the BSP could manage to garner less than 10 percent votes besides drawing a blank in the tally of seats in the state, where the saffron party suffered a massive jolt.

Very interestingly, BSP's vote share is more than BJP's winning margin in 16 constituencies, 14 of which have been won by the saffron party.

The seats include Aligarh, Bijnor, Fatehpur, Meerut, Phulpur, Unnao.

Hypothetically, if BSP had joined the INDIA camp comprising Samajwadi Party and Congress primarily, BJP's seat share could have fallen from 33 to 19, tightening Narendra Modi's return for the third term as the Prime Minister.

In the present scenario, NDA's 292 seats including BJP's 240 are well above the majority mark, 272.

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

In the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP had won 73 and 62 seats respectively.

Akhilesh Yadav's PDA pitch derails BJP juggernaut in UP

In close analysis, former Uttar Pradesh Akhilesh Yadav's pitch for PDA (Pichhda, Dalit and Alpsankhak) comprising OBC, Dalit and Muslim candidates did the trick for the Samajwadi Party, 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.