Tuesday’s bypolls results show two things: One, Mayawati’s BSP remains the dominant force in UP, even after its not-so-impressive show in the Lok Sabha elections. Two, the SP is getting edged out of the space of main Opposition by the Congress which won Firozabad Lok Sabha seat, where Raj Babbar defeated Mulayam Singh Yadav’s daughter-in-law Dimple. That is not all. The SP drew a blank in the bypolls, losing five seats. The BSP won nine of the 11 Assembly seats. Among its victories were Bharthana, Padrouna, Jhansi.

The Congress snatched Lucknow West from the BJP. The victory is significant because the seat had become synonymous with BJP’s Lalji Tandon, who had vacated it after his election to the Lok Sabha.

Like the SP, the BJP also drew a blank. In Kolasala, the other seat it had won in 2007, BJP rebel Ajay Rai won.

The BSP also wrested Isauli, Hainsar Bazar, Etawah and Powayan from the SP.

Buoyed by its success in Firozabad, the Congress termed it as the “beginning” of people’s assertion of their faith in the party in UP and said it will form the next government in the state after the 2012 elections. The Congress also downplayed its poor performance in the Assembly bypolls in which it won only one seat.

Shocked over his party’s dismal performance, Mulayam Singh Yadav said the SP leaders would meet to discuss the reasons behind the defeat.

Of the Assembly seats where bypolls were held, the BSP had won only one in 2007, the SP five, the BJP two, the Congress two and one had gone to JD(U) whose MLA later joined the BSP.

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