How Congress brought the SP down in UP

Did the alliance with the Congress hurt the Samajwadi Party. Nothing went right for the SP-Congress alliance and the two parties together wound up with just 69 seats. Was it wrong calculation or did the Congress pull the SP down?

The experts say that the Samajwadi Party's loss could be due to two factors. Many including those within the SP too felt that Akhilesh Yadav should not have gone with the Congress. They would have won more seats had they gone to the polls alone.

The two reasons that poll experts are giving for the SP's loss in UP. One, Akhilesh Yadav should have stayed away from the Congress. This could have had a bearing on the SP's chances. Secondly, after winning the symbol battle before the Election Commission of India, Akhilesh continued to associate with his uncle Shivpal Yadav.

The family feud was centric to the SP's campaign. Akhilesh wanted to portray the image he does not believe in the thug brand of politics and hence wanted to stay away from his uncle. However despite all that, he never really broke away and this could have been a factor that went against the SP.

The SP-Congress alliance also did not help factor much in the Muslim votes. The alliance according to the exit poll will get 70 per cent of the Muslim votes. This is the same that the SP had won in 2012 when it went alone.

OneIndia News