The ruling Bahujan Samaj Party scored a spectacular victory in the by-election to the Domariyaganj assembly seat on Monday,when its candidate Begum Khatoon Taufiq defeated her nearest rival and BJP nominee G P Tiwari by a margin of 15,842 votes. What makes the BSP victory more significant is the poor performance of the crisis-riddenSamajwadi Party and the resurgentCongress in the state. Moreover,a little-known outfit,Peace Party of India (PPI),emerged as a major gainer,bagging more votes (around 26,300) than both the SP (around 21,900) and the Congress (around 19,500). Although PPI is known for its support base among Muslims,it fielded Sachchidanand Pandey,a Brahmin and former SP leader Amar Singh had campaigned for it. The by-election was necessitated by the death of BSP MLA Taufiq Ahmad in January. He had won by about 900 votes in 2007. The BSP had fielded his widow. The party engaged all its forces to retain the seat the SP and the Congress pooled in their strength to win it. The BJPs was a low-key campaign. As for the Peace party,no one had taken it seriously. The BJP vote increased a little while the Congress polled almost the same number of votes as in 2007. But the SP tally dropped substantially. In 2007,SP candidate Yusuf Malik,whom the party fielded this time too,was the runner-up. The main reason for the SPs poor show is believed to be the presence of Peace Party candidate Sachchidanand Pandey,who polled a large number of Muslim votes. If the results further confirmed the shrinking base of Samajwadi Party in the state,these also showed the Congress helplessness to repeat its performance of the last Lok Sabha polls in Domariyaganj,which is currently represented by party leader Jagdambika Pal. Pal had bagged maximum votes in Domariyganj assembly segment in May 2009,and the Congress had hoped for a repeat performance in the by-election. Domariyaganj assembly constituency has a considerable presence of Muslims,besides the Brahmins and Dalits. During the campaign,a large number of BSP ministers,MPs and MLAs camped in Domariyaganj. The PWD minister and Chief Minister Mayawatis confidante,Naseemuddin Siddiqui,had supervised the BSP campaign. Rural Development Minister Daddu Prasad,Transport minister Ram Achal Rajbhar,Parliamentary Affair Minister Lalji Verma,Forest Minister Fateh Bahdur Singh,Panchayat Minister Swami Prasad Maurya had taken part in the campaign as well. VOTESHAREBSPKhatoon Taufiq 44,765 votes ce Party of India Sachchidanand Pandey 26,300 votes (aprox) BJPOm Prakash 28,923 votes Samajwadi PartyKamal Yusuf 21,924 votes CongressAshok Kumar Singh 19,206 votes
