For ‘shrinking’ BSP, one of its most pressing problems: Chandrashekhar Azad is slowly catching up

Contesting its first Assembly election in Jharkhand, the ASP (Kanshi Ram) went face-to-face with the BSP in 15. It managed to secure more votes than the BSP in eight of those constituencies: Hazaribagh, Jamshedpur West, Daltonganj, Mandu, Bermo, Panki, Godda, and Gandey. Mayawati’s party polled more votes than the ASP in seven seats: Bishrampur, Hussainabad, Barkatha, Garhwa, Ramgarh, Bhawanathpur and Dhanwar.

The best result of the ASP (Kanshi Ram) came in Daltonganj, Mandu and Panki, where its candidate came fourth and polled more than 10,000 votes in each seat. In Panki, the party polled 22,990 votes, its highest across the state. For the BSP, finishing third in Hussainabad and Bishrampur was its best performance.

In Maharashtra, the two parties were engaged in direct contests in 24 seats. In these seats, the BSP was by far the more dominant party, winning more votes than the ASP in 21. The three seats where the ASP outperformed the BSP are Amravati, Achalpur, and Pusad.

The two parties also faced off in eight of the nine constituencies in UP where bypolls were held. Azad’s party outperformed the BSP in Meerapur and Kundarki, both in western UP, finishing third. The BSP finished ahead of the ASP (Kanshi Ram) in six seats.

The slow but persistent rise of the ASP (Kanshi Ram) is likely to contribute to the bad blood between Mayawati and Azad. In 2019, when Azad joined the protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the proposed National Register of Citizens, the BSP chief tweeted, “Dalits believe that Bhim Army’s Chandrashekhar is playing to the tunes of the Opposition parties and is conspiring to affect BSP’s vote share in election-bound states. He protests and then deliberately goes to jail.”

That line of attack has continued since then, with the BSP viewing Azad’s party as a Dalit alternative that may deal it a body blow. In a statement on November 24, a day after the Assembly election results, Mayawati made a veiled reference to the ASP (Kanshi Ram) while accusing the Congress and the BJP of secretly colluding with their “associates” to prevent the BSP from coming to power.

“Together, they manipulated and used opportunistic, self-serving individuals from the Dalit community to create numerous parties. These parties are entirely funded by the same groups to serve their interests,” Mayawati alleged, adding these parties “travel with dozens of vehicles and even use helicopters and aeroplanes during campaigns”.

Mayawati alleged these parties were weakening the BSP for their political gains by fielding candidates who align with their interests. “Furthermore, to strengthen these self-serving and opportunistic groups, our opponents are even transferring their votes to them and ensuring that one or two MPs or MLAs from such groups get elected in each state,” she claimed. Mayawati pointed out that such a pattern was witnessed in the Assembly polls in Haryana, Maharashtra, and Jharkhand as well as in the Uttar Pradesh bypolls.

An ASP (Kanshi Ram) leader said while Azad campaigned both in Jharkhand and Maharashtra, he gave special attention to Meerapur in UP where a bypoll was held as it is adjacent to his Nagina Lok Sabha constituency. ASP (Kanshi Ram)’s Jharkhand president Kashif Bharti said, “Our party performed so well in the state due to people’s growing trust in our leader Chandrashekhar ji and the hard work of the local organisation. Dalits, minorities, tribals and OBCs all voted for the ASP. We were hoping for a better performance. Though the BSP is not working on the ground, it cut our votes in some seats.”

Azad’s win from Nagina in the Lok Sabha elections had sent alarm bells ringing in the BSP, whose leaders said it would help him “evolve as a Dalit leader and as an alternative to Mayawati, further weakening the BSP”.

In Jharkhand, one BSP candidate blamed the party for its poor performance. “The BSP’s top leadership was almost missing from the campaign. Party candidates contested on their own with the help of local workers. The majority of Dalit votes shifted to the JMM-Congress-RJD alliance and a section also voted for the ASP. If this is the attitude of our national leadership, then the BSP will become weaker and other smaller parties like ASP will grab its vote bank,” said the candidate.