Recently there was a lot of controversy regarding Amit Shah’s statement on Ambedkar. Mayawati also reacted, but Rahul Gandhi was seen to be ahead in raising the issue loudly.
It is not known whether Congress will get any benefit from the Ambedkar controversy in the Delhi Assembly elections or not, but the INDIA block has definitely regained its lost strength. The matter of making Mamata Banerjee the leader of India Bloc is quiet at the moment. Samajwadi Party, which was moving away from Congress, has also come together again.
Amidst the controversy over Ambedkar issue, Arvind Kejriwal had taken a different line from Rahul Gandhi. Anyway, Congress and Aam Aadmi Party are fighting against each other in Delhi elections. If the fight has any impact on the elections, only BJP will be in advantage – and now BSP is also going to enter the fray.
The surprising thing is that Mayawati is giving preference to Delhi Assembly elections instead of Milkipur by-election. After the results of the by-elections held on 9 seats in UP, Mayawati had accused the party of influencing the results through fake voting, and said that unless the Election Commission takes strict steps to stop fake voting, Bahujan Samaj Party will not be able to win any election. Will not contest the by-election.
Why is Delhi election important from Milkipur for Mayawati?
Along with Delhi elections, by-election has also been announced for Milkipur assembly seat of Uttar Pradesh. According to the Election Commission, Milkipur will go to polls on February 5 along with Delhi – and all results will be declared after the counting of votes on February 8.
Not for Milkipur elections, but Mayawati has made three posts on social site X regarding Delhi Assembly elections. She writes, BSP is fighting this election… alone, on its own strength… with full preparation and strength… it is expected that the party will definitely perform better in this election.
Mayawati has appealed to the voters of Delhi to vote for BSP. She says, do not get misled by the tempting promises of any party, use your vote wisely and dedicate yourself to public interest and public welfare… vote only for the candidates of BSP party… only in this the interest of the people and the country lies and is safe. Is.
While addressing the Election Commission, Mayawati has written, BSP expects the Commission to prevent elections from being tainted by communalism and other disgusting propaganda along with misuse of government machinery in conducting free and fair elections.
Mayawati also contested the 2022 UP Assembly elections alone, and got only one seat. After years, Mayawati had decided to contest by-elections on 9 seats. The name of the candidate for Milkipur was declared, but now no such discussion is being heard.
After all, what could be the purpose of Mayawati leaving a very important election like Milkipur and contesting the Delhi elections alone? Questions were being raised about BSP candidates in the 2022 assembly elections. It was even being said that BSP candidates were benefiting the BJP – and after that, similar experiments were seen in the Azamgarh Lok Sabha by-election. BJP’s Nirahua, who defeated SP’s Dharmendra Yadav in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, himself lost the election because the equations on the seat had changed. Guddu Muslim, who played an important role in the defeat of Dharmendra Yadav in the by-election, left Mayawati and joined Akhilesh Yadav.
The question is why does Mayawati want to contest Delhi Assembly elections like Uttar Pradesh? Without electoral alliance with anyone, and on all the 70 seats of Delhi.
Talking to senior journalist Ranjan Kumar, who is closely monitoring the Delhi elections, it is known that the declining support base of BSP in Delhi may have increased Mayawati’s concern. It is said that before the entry of Aam Aadmi Party in Delhi politics, BSP also used to have 2 MLAs, but now the situation has become such that the vote share has reached less than 1 percent.
According to Ranjan Kumar, BSP’s vote share in the 2008 Delhi Assembly elections used to be 14.05 percent. By the time of 2013 elections it reached 5.35. In 2005, BSP had got 1.30 percent votes, but in 2020 this figure had increased to 0.71 percent.
It seems that in the shadow of the controversy over Ambedkar issue, Mayawati might have seen some hope in Delhi elections, but if there is any election strategy towards UP then it is a different matter.
Who is the biggest enemy of Delhi BSP?
In the 2008 assembly elections, BSP had won two seats in Delhi. Badarpur and Gokalpur. In Badarpur, Ram Singh Netaji got 47.30 percent votes, while in Gokalpur, BSP’s Surendra Kumar won the election by getting 28.89 percent votes.
Surendra Kumar became MLA by joining Aam Aadmi Party in 2020, and even in 2025 the ticket has not been cut. In 2020, Ram Singh Netaji also contested the elections on Aam Aadmi Party ticket, but lost – Arvind Kejriwal is trying him once again in 2025.
The story of 6 seats in Delhi is similar. Apart from Badarpur and Gokalpur, the seats where BSP was performing well were taken by Arvind Kejriwal, and the story changed.
1. In 2008, Sharad Kumar got 31.66 percent votes on BSP ticket, but lost by 832 votes and remained at second position. In 2015 and 2020, he had become MLA from Aam Aadmi Party, but this time Arvind Kejriwal has canceled his ticket.
2. BSP’s Ajesh Yadav, who stood second in Badli assembly seat in 2008, became Aam Aadmi Party MLA in 2015. The seat remained with AAP in 2020 also, but in 2025, Ajesh Yadav’s ticket has been canceled.
3. BSP’s Sahi Ram, who stood second in the Tughlakabad assembly seat in 2008, became AAP MLA in 2015 and 2020 – and Sahi Ram’s ticket has not been cut in 2025 too. Let us tell you, Sahi Ram was made the Aam Aadmi Party candidate from South Delhi seat in the Lok Sabha elections.
And there are many such seats in Delhi on which the votes of BSP have been shifting towards Aam Aadmi Party. The story of Babarpur, Mangolpuri, Chhatarpur, Deoli, Kondli, Ghonda, Trilokpuri, Rajinder Nagar and Okhla assembly seats is similar.
What is the Dalit voter of Delhi thinking?
According to Lokniti-CSDS, there are 17 percent Dalit voters in Delhi, and Ranjan Kumar estimates that the Aam Aadmi Party is now getting more than 60 percent votes in the assembly elections.
Raj Kumar Anand, who was the Dalit face of Aam Aadmi Party, has now joined BJP. While in the Aam Aadmi Party, he was also a minister in the Delhi government. And yes, he did not join BJP directly, he was the BSP candidate from New Delhi Lok Sabha seat in the 2024 general elections.
The direct impact of Dalit votes is visible on about a dozen seats in Delhi, but the picture changes in the Lok Sabha elections. In 2019, in terms of Dalit votes, BJP had secured 49 percent votes, leaving Aam Aadmi Party behind. Then Aam Aadmi Party got 25 percent votes, and Congress got 24 percent votes.
In the new environment, the inclination of Delhi’s Dalit voters towards AAP, BJP or Congress will be revealed on February 8.
