Mayawati, the leader of the BSP, attacked the Samajwadi Party on Tuesday for fielding dalit and OBC candidates in the elections while knowing the odds were stacked against them. This came a day after the ruling BJP won handily in the byelections for the Uttar Pradesh legislative council.

Additionally, she charged that when the Akhilesh Yadav-led party was in power, it disregarded these sectors.

The Samajwadi Party (SP) candidates Ram Jatan Rajbhar and Ramkaran were easily defeated by Manvendra Singh and Padmasen Chowdhary of the saffron party in the legislative council byelections held on Monday.

“In the by-elections held yesterday for two seats of the UP Legislative Council, despite the defeat being certain, the SP fielded Dalit and OBC candidates in the election and got them defeated, while ignoring them when they (SP) were in power… proves that the conspiracies of the SP towards these classes has not changed even a bit,” Mayawati tweeted in Hindi.

Cautioning these backward sections against the nefarious designs of the Samajwadi Party, she said in another tweet, “Dalits, other backwards and marginalised people have suffered a lot due to such narrow and hateful politics of SP and their governments. “That’s why there is a dire need for these sections to be always careful to avoid such losses in future, this is the appeal of the BSP,” she said.

Congress members abstaining from voting in the MLC byelections dealt a blow to the opposition’s unity, and the lone BSP MLA was unable to travel to Lucknow to exercise his right to vote.

Considering its size in the legislature, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was well-positioned to win for both of its candidates. The SP entered the fight at the last minute, presumably to send a message that it would not give the ruling party a free pass.

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