Lok Sabha Elections Results 2019: What happened in Uttar Pradesh - A look at poll mandate from 1999 to 2014

The D-Day is finally here. After the mammoth election cycle of 38 days the Election Commission of India will be declared the results of the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections on Thursday. All eyes will be understandably on Uttar Pradesh that sends the biggest total of lawmakers to the Lower House of Parliament. With issues such as Ayodhya and development still ruling the roost, it will be a trial by fire for Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who for the first time campaigned in the official capacity as Congress general secretary. With no other ‘safe’ seat to contest, it is the battle of prestige for Narender Modi, who is against contesting from Varanasi. As the counting begins, here’s a lookback at the elections and the results from the state that sets the narrative for political discourse at national level:

What happened in Uttar Pradesh in 2014 Lok Sabha Elections?

In 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) along with its ally Apna Dal swept the state and won 73 seats together. The BJP completely routed the Samajwadi Party (SP), the Congress and the Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in the state. Both the BSP and the Ajit Singh's Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) were not able to open their accounts in the Lok Sabha polls. Uttar Pradesh sends 80 members to the Lok Sabha and such a massive victory facilitated the BJP's grand comeback at the Centre.

The BJP received 3,43,18,854 votes with a vote share of 42.6 per cent and won 71 seats in Uttar Pradesh. Its alliance partner Apna Dal secured close to 1 per cent votes in the state and won 2 seats of Mirzapur and Pratapgarh. The Congress was able to get 60,61,267 votes with a vote share of just 7.5 per cent and won 2 seats of Amethi and Rae Bareli. The Samajwadi Party under the leadership of Akhilesh Yadav was stunned by the saffron party and was able to garner 1,79,88,967 votes in the state with a vote share of 22.3 per cent. The party won only 5 seats.

The BSP received 1,59,14,194 votes with a decent vote share of 19.8 per cent but failed to win a single seat in the state. The RLD, which allied itself with the Congress, got 6,89,409 votes in the state but both Ajit Singh and his son Jayant Chaudhary lost from Baghpat and Mathura seats respectively.

The 2014 election in the state was held in six phases on April 10, 17, 24, 30, May 7 and 12. In 2009 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP won only 10 seats whereas the Congress had 21 members from the state. The SP was the biggest party with 23 seats and the BSP had won 20 seats. The RLD won 5 seats in the state as one of the constituents of the BJP-led NDA.

Some of the prominent winners in 2014 were Narendra Modi (BJP-Varanasi), Rajnath Singh (BJP-Lucknow), Murli Manohar Joshi (BJP-Kanpur), Vijay Kumar Singh (BJP-Ghaziabad), Mulayam Singh Yadav (SP-Azamgarh), Dimple Yadav (SP-Kannauj), Akshay Yadav (SP-Firozabad), Sonia Gandhi (Congress-Rae Bareli), Rahul Gandhi (Congress-Amethi), Ram Shankar Katheria (BJP-Agra), Hema Malini (BJP-Mathura), Sanjeev Kumar Balyan (BJP-Muzaffarnagar), Uma Bharti (BJP-Jhansi), Kalraj Mishra (BJP-Deoria), Maneka Gandhi (BJP-Pilibhit), Varun Gandhi (BJP-Sultanpur), Yogi Adityanath (BJP-Gorakhpur), Keshav Prasad Maurya (BJP-Phulpur), Anupriya Singh Patel (Apna Dal-Mirzapur), Mahendra Nath Pandey (BJP-Chandauli), Manoj Sinha (BJP-Ghazipur), Jagdambika Pal (BJP-Domariyaganj), Niranjan Jyoti (BJP-Fatehpur), Sakshi Maharaj (BJP-Unnao), Santosh Kumar Gangwar (BJP-Bareilly), Mahesh Sharma (BJP-Gautam Buddha Nagar), Satyapal Singh (BJP-Baghpat), Hukum Singh (BJP-Kairana), Lallu Singh (BJP-Faizabad) and Savitri Bai Phule (BJP-Bahraich).

What happened in Uttar Pradesh in 2009 Lok Sabha Elections?

In 2009, the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance returned to power after stellar show in 2004. Dr Manmohan Singh continued to be the Prime Minister of the country for the second term. The UPA won around 261 out of 543 seats, and in the second position was NDA with 158 seats, while 23 seats were won by Left parties. Around 714 million people exercised their vote. Overall 58% turnout was registered in 2009 General Elections. Uttar Pradesh’s state-wise results helped the Congress in gaining as many as 21 seats. The 2009 results were as following:

BJP: 10

BSP: 20

INC: 21

IND: 1

RLD: 5

SP: 23

What happened in Uttar Pradesh in 2004 Lok Sabha Elections?

Unlike the present-day scenario, where Samajwadi Party is in a reluctant alliance with the BSP in order to stay politically relevant, the Mulayam Singh’s party was a force to reckon with in the regional setup. In the 2004 elections, the Congress emerged the single largest party winning 145 seats followed by the BJP at 138. The Congress thus staked its claim to forming a government in alliance with several parties. ‘India Shining’ came out to be just an illusion for the BJP with ground realities starkly different.

The biggest gainer in Uttar Pradesh of 2004 was Samajwadi Party. Thus, the final tally of 2004 UP was:

Samajwadi Party: 35

BSP: 19

BJP: 10

Congress: 9

Independent and Others: 7  

What happened in Uttar Pradesh in 1999 Lok Sabha Elections?

The political instability led to three general elections in just three years. Atal Behari Vajpayee-led coalition reversed the trends. The Kargil War boosted the stock of Vajpayee and the BJP across much of the country. However, things were different in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab. As a ‘Frontline’ report pointed out, there was no swing either towards the BJP (its vote share declined by 1.8 percentage point from 1998) or towards its allies (their combined vote share declined by 1.5 percentage points from what they won in the twelfth general election). In fact, in 1999 the Congress( I) contested 20 fewer seats than in 1998, but improved its vote share by 2.7 percentage points. The undivided Uttar Pradesh that used to send record 85 lawmakers to the Lok Sabha. Here’s the final tally of the 1999 General Elections that show party-wise seats won in undivided UP:

Bharatiya Janata Party: 29

Bahujan Samaj Party: 14

Samajwadi Party: 26

Indian National Congress: 10

Akhil Bharatiya Lok Tantrik Congress: 2

Rashtriya Lok Dal: 2

Independent: 1

Samajwadi Janata Party (Rashtriya): 1