In two western Uttar Pradesh (UP) constituencies that have seen communal violence since the NDA came to power, the Samajwadi Party was the major gainer in Assembly bypolls, snatching Thakurdwara from the BJP while improving its vote share in Saharanpur Nagar. The BJP, too, improved its vote count in the latter seat, apparently a result of polarisation, while its count remained largely unchanged in Thakurdwara.
In Saharanpur, where riots between Sikh and Muslims turned into clashes between Hindus and Muslims, the BJP won by 26,667 votes against the SP, which rose to second place after having finished fourth in 2012. The BJP?s vote count rose from 85,170 to 10,8306, the SP’s from 19,686 to 81,639.
In Thakurdwara in Moradabad, which saw between police and Hindus over removal of a loudspeaker from a Ravidas mandir, the SP rose from No. 4 to winner with 1.12 lakh votes, while the BJP slipped marginally from 84,530 to 84,704.
The Indian Express had published a series of reports on how communal incidents have been concentrated in regions going to bypolls. Police records showed a trend of attempts by an aggressive BJP, a desperate SP, and a flagging BSP to turn clashes between individuals into a communal issue.
In 2012, the SP had fielded three Muslims in the 11 seats that saw bypolls this year. This time it had only one, in Thakurdwara.