The influence of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), which used to have a good base in Doaba, is on a downswing in Punjab. The party is fighting elections on all the 13 Lok Sabha seats on its own.

All the four BSP MPs which the state has sent to Parliament so far has been from Doaba. But the results of past five elections in the state since 1998 reveal that the party’s vote share has been consistently on the decline.

The previous three elections in particular witnessed a pronounced fall in the party’s vote percentage in

Jalandhar, Phillaur (which is no more a LS constituency and its major area has been included in Jalandhar seat) and Hoshiarpur segments.

In Jalandhar, the party secured nearly 15 per cent votes in 1992 elections, which came down to 7.67 per cent in 2004 LS elections and 4.13 per cent in 2007 Vidhan Sabha elections.

The 1998 general elections saw the party cornering 41.74 per cent vote share from here, which came down to 21 per cent in 2004 elections. The party had secured 48.01 per cent and 37.86 per cent votes in 1996 and 1991, respectively, from the Phillaur constituency.

In Hoshiarpur too, the BSP’s vote share has headed southwards during the past five elections. From 40.41 per cent in 1998 elections, it crashed to 23 per cent in the 2004 elections.

Sources in the party said a stronger show by the party always meant a dent in the Congress vote bank. But the decreasing vote share could benefit the Congress.

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