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.

For instance, the notorious Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiyya, who was jailed by Mayawati under POTA, was made a minister in the Mulayam cabinet. Mukhtar Ansari, charged in the sensational murder of BJP MLA Krishnanand Rai, enjoyed state security. The Chief Minister fought the Opposition’s demand for a CBI inquiry into Rai’s murder tooth and nail till the High Court ordered it. Also, more than 2,000 gunners were provided to Samajwadi Party “leaders” of various “ranks” in the state.

There were countless incidents involving gun-toting leaders, known as “contractor mafia” in UP, thrashing government officials and policemen on duty and getting away with it. Numerous were also instances of policemen found involved in heinous crimes.

The utter failure of the law and order machinery, coupled with her own no-nonsense image and Mulayam playing the Yadav card, helped Mayawati broaden her support base even among the higher castes.

Even in defeat, Mulayam failed to accept the that he could have been wrong when he said: “I was under the impression that people liked the development work taken up by my government, but now I think people failed to understand the policies of my government.”

Minus for ministers

Of the 28-member Cabinet, only 11 ministers could make it back to the Assembly. Among 25 ministers of state, only six could retain their seats

Prominent losers

• Balram Yadav

• Ashok Bajpai

• Kiranpal Singh

• Hari Shanker Tiwari

• Jagdish Singh Rana

• Ujjwal Raman Singh

• Rajendra Singh Rana

• Virendra Singh Bundela

• Swami Omvesh

• Sanjay Garg

PROMINENT WINNERS

1. Mukhtar Ansari (IND) MAU

2. Amita Singh (CONG) AMETHI

3. Mulayam Singh Yadav (SP) BHARTHANA, GUNNAUR

4. Premlata Devi (BJP) Deoria Sadar

5. Mithilesh Katiyar (BSP) RAJPUR

6. Sibagtullah Ansari (SP) MOHHAMADABAD

7. D P Yadav (Rashtriya Parivartan Dal) SAHASWAN

8. Akhilesh Singh (IND) RAE BARELI SADAR

9. Shivpal Singh Yadav (SP) JASWANTNAGAR

10. Raja Bhaiyya (IND) KUNDA

11. Amarmani Tripathi (SP) LAXMIPUR

12. Lalji Tandon (BJP) LUCKNOW (WEST)

PROMINENT LOSERS

1. Beni Prasad Yadav (Samajwadi Kranti Dal) AYODHYA

2. Raj Veer Singh (BJP) Debai

3. Ujjawal Singh (SP) Karchchana

4. Sonelal Patel (Apna Dal) Kolasla

5. Kesari Nath Tripathi (BJP) Allahabad

7. Jagdambika Pal (Cong) Basti