Finally what proved to be Mulayam Singh Yadav’s undoing was his refusal to accept the fact that the worsening law and order situation in Uttar Pradesh could translate into defeat at the hustings. As Mayawati focussed her entire campaign on the “goonda raj” in the state, the advertisement featuring Amitabh Bachchan, with its punchline, “UP mein hain dum, kyonki zurm yahan hain kum”, boomeranged spectacularly on Mulayam. The outgoing Chief Minister though went out blaming the Election Commission for his misfortunes.

The reason why Mulayam blamed the Election Commission was because his gun-toting brigade did not get the free run it enjoyed in the past. “When all the parties were fighting me, the Commission too joined them. It crossed all boundaries to harm me,” a dejected Mulayam said.

Mulayam was clearly too shocked to come up with a tangible explanation. But broadly there seem to be two reasons for the Samajwadi Party’s worst-ever performance. One was the signals emanating from the state’s highest office about whom the government patronised, and two was the slighting of the second rung leadership.