Though the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) won in just two constituencies in Delhi, the party’s performance in the Delhi Assembly elections has not only been surprising but unprecedented.

Party workers say they will take the credit for the “impressive” vote share — the BSP, hitherto a force which could be ignored in Delhi, has polled votes in every constituency. Even in urban constituencies like New Delhi, where BSP never managed to make its presence felt earlier, the party has captured 8.75 per cent of vote.

While the Election Commission has not come out with the exact percentage of votes that the party has polled, BSP workers claimed they have crossed the double-figure mark. Kanwar Singh Tanwar, the party’s Delhi unit general secretary, said, “We estimate the vote share to be between 12 and 14 percent.”

The two seats aside, BSP has launched itself as a force to reckon with, having introduced the third front into Delhi politics. Sample this: it polled 30.90 per cent votes in Babarpur, 17.53 per cent in Ambedkar Nagar, a whopping 47.30 per cent in Badarpur, 26.03 per cent in Badli, 18.89 per cent in Brijwasan, 29.28 per cent in Chattarpur, 26.02 per cent in Deoli, 28.89 per cent in Gokulpur and as much as 30.90 per cent in Narela, narrowly missing a victory in this constituency.

The BSP’s vote share was 8.75 per cent in New Delhi, from where Sheila Dikshit has won. In VK Malhotra’s Greater Kailash seat, BSP’s Rajender Kumar Gupta managed 5.63 per cent votes.

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