This has led to anger among second-rung leaders, who are talking about the law of diminishing returns setting in for the party.
The second rung leaders were extremely critical of the candidates the party had chosen. They said it was the vested interest of the leadership or individual leaders at work. Candidates who had lost not only once but twice or even thrice were given seats. This was the primary reason behind the defeat of so many party candidates.
J P Mathur, senior BJP leader and the partys election-in-charge for the UP polls, did not deny this allegation. He said that possibly more candidates should have been changed.
Our cadres suffered from over-confidence due to their own wrong assessment and the media coverage. They took victory for granted, he said.
At least in ten seats we lost due to administrative interference either on the ground of caste or other reasons which led to the SP winning those seats, he said.
In the west we lost seven seats, because of the booth capturing by the Bharatiya Kisan Kamgar Party, Mathur alleged.
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But in general, Mathur said, our voters did not come out and our workers did not, or could not, take them out to vote. In the east we lost because of the caste influence and that of Mafia dons.
The party had expected a larger polling percentage in their favour about 35 or so. But in actual fact there has been a decline of 1.5 per cent in votes, to 32.5 from 34.
The party has done much better then expected in Uttarakhand. It has swept the first sixteen seats. But that is the only bright feature in its performance. Its expected good performance in Mulayams orbit in and around Etawah has not been as well as was seen. The same is true of the eastern belt of Ghazipur, Ballia, Azamgarh, or Ghosi. In Faizabad, Ambedkar Nagar, Gorakhpur and Gonda it has failed to perform upto its expectations. Its performance in Allahabad has been below the mark.
The party has lost seats both to the SP and the BSP. The SP has been able to hold its own in the Etawah belt and has one extremely well in Farrukhabad. The BSP has held its major seats in Allahabad. In Kanpur Dehat the BSP has taken five of the seven seats. In the city, the BJP has got five, while conceding one each to the SP and the BSP.
Across the state the BJP has been hit and has performed less then expected. In Bundelkhand, too, its performance has gone down.
All these factors have led to the debacle or rather the less then expected performance. The party failed totally in taking advantage of the split in the SP and BSP votes. These two parties have emerged as important forces. They may remain a little behind in the vote percentage, at 27 per cent each, but nevertheless they have a large following of their own.
The results are, by and large, a replica of the 1993 results. In that election, the BJP got 177 seats. This time, too, it will reach somewhere around that figure. The SP had bagged 108 seats then. It is moving towards the 100 mark now. The BSP had bagged 69 seats and is only few short of that figure. The Congress had won 28 and at the moment it is at 29. The Janta Dal had won 32, but due to desertions it was reduced to near zero. But now it has less than six seats. The Congress (T) has been routed and at the moment stands at a paltry three seats. Give or take a seat here and there, but the results follow the 1993 pattern.