New Delhi, Feb 11 (IANS) Once a formidable force, the BSP has lost the deposit in all seats it contested in February 8 Delhi Assembly elections and could see its the vote percentage fall under one per cent when the final tally is out.
On his party’s performance, BSP state President Laxman Singh said: “It is polarisation which has decimated us… those who were against BJP voted for the AAP.”
He also said that excessive Hindutva has caused damage to the BJP as well as his party. “The core Dalit vote did not think that we are a formidable force” in Delhi, he said.
Laxman Singh said that it was a “tsunami”.
The BSP had put its best performance in the Delhi polls in 2008, when it saw two candidates elected, and the party becoming runner-up in 5 seats.
In 2013, the party did not win any seats but got 5.5 per cent of the votes but in 2015, when the AAP won an unprecedented 67 seats, the BSP saw its vote-share dip to 1.25 per cent.
In this election, BSP turncoats Ram Singh Netaji won from Badarpur as an AAP candidate and so did Surendra Kumar from Gokalpur (SC), Laxman Singh said.
A senior BSP leader said that the party was banking on Delhi’s 25 lakh Dalit population, which has been voting for Congress and shifted to the AAP in 2013 but could not convince them to support it.
–IANS
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