Uttar Pradesh state assembly elections, 2007

The Uttar Pradesh state assembly elections, 2007 were held in April-May 2007 to elect a government for the state of Uttar Pradesh in India.

Organization of the Election

With 166 million people, U.P. is about the size of France, Germany,and the Benelux nations combined. There are 113 million voters, and 403electoral seats, with an average of a quarter of a million voters in each constituency. The elections were conducted for 402 seats at 110 thousand polling stations under very strict guidelines by the autonomous Election Commission of India. More than 46% of the electorate cast their votes.

The election was held in seven phases:
* Phase 1 : 2007-04-07
* Phase 2 : 2007-04-13
* Phase 3 : 2007-04-18
* Phase 4 : 2007-04-23
* Phase 5 : 2007-04-28
* Phase 6 : 2007-05-03
* Phase 7 : 2007-05-08

A total of 129 parties fielded 2,487 candidates, while 2020 candidates stoodas independents, for the total of 406 seats.

Election Results

Exit polls suggested that the Bahujan Samaj Party may emerge as the largestparty with between 110 and 160 seats; however, it far outstripped thispredictionbagging an absolute majority of 206 seats out of a total 402 in theassembly. In contrast, Samajwadi Party, BJP and Congress were reduced very significantly.

These elections were another major example of the Pollsters getting it wrong at Indian Elections. In a similar pattern to the 2004 General Elections. The pollsters overpredicted the votes of the BJP. [http://www.ibnlive.com/news/up-polls-forecast-not-forewarned/40675-4-single.html]

The results by party [UP Assembly Election Results, [http://archive.eci.gov.in/May2007/pollupd/ac/states/S24/aS24.htm Election Commission Website] ] are as follows:

Defections

The BSP had won 98 seats in the last elections,but 33 MLAs defected to the Samajwadi Party in 2003 [cite web
title = Untouchable politics and politicians since 1956
author = Kanshi Ram: from BAMCEF to the Bahujana Samaj Party
publisher = ambedkar.org
url = http://www.ambedkar.org/books/tu5.htm
date = November 20, 2000
accessdate = 2007-05-13] , in a move that mayhave been illegal but was permitted by the then speaker Kesri Nath Tripathi [cite news
title = Will post-poll tie-up solve the puzzle?
author = Arun Chaubey
publisher = Zee News
url = http://www.zeenews.com/uppoll/fullstory.asp?aid=365507&sid=UPE
date = May 2007
accessdate = 2007-05-29] .

Blanked Out

In addition, 116 parties fielded candidates but failed to win a seat. The partieswith more than 50 candidates fielded without outcome are:

:* Indian Justice Party (121):* Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party (97):* Lok Dal (76):* National Lokhind Party (74):* Lok Jan Shakti Party (72):* Rashtriya Janata Dal (66):* Shivsena (59)

However, it is likely that some of these parties may have taken away votesfrom other groups; e.g. Uditraj's Indian Justice Party has a good standingamong Dalit's who also constitute an important chunk of the BSP vote bank.

Rainbow Coalition

A characteristic of the BSP win was the amalgamation of Brahmin votes into the Dalit dominated party [cite news
title = Brahmin Vote Helps Party of Low Caste Win in India
author = Somini Sengupta
publisher = The New York Times
url = http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/12/world/asia/12india.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
date = 2007-05-12
accessdate = 2007-05-12] , an approach that has been called the rainbow coalition. This is in contrast to the decades-old trend of exploitingdeep-rooted caste divisions in the state between Dalits, Upper Castes, Muslims and different OBC groups, which tend to vote in blocks.

List of Winners

This is the list of winners consolidated from the Election Commission of India party-wise results pages ( [http://archive.eci.gov.in/archive_bottom.htm ECI website] ).

Criminalization in the UP 2007 Elections

The number of criminal-politicians participating in the elections have beengrowing, particularly because they have been successful in the past. In theU.P. Assembly elections, 2002, candidates with criminal records won 206 out of403 seats in the assembly, i.e. more criminals were elected than regular politicians [cite news
title = Jo Johnson
author = The criminalisation of Indian democracy
publisher = Financial Times
url = http://www.ft.com/cms/s/21d0f5f8-f8c1-11db-a940-000b5df10621.html
date = May 2 2007
accessdate = 2007-05-12] .

In 2007, the participation by criminals increased significantly. Prior to elections,74% more criminal politicians were given tickets by the mainstream parties (Source: UP Election Watch, independent NGO headed by ex-DIG Ishwar P. Dwivedicite news
title = Many with criminal past in polls
publisher = The Hindu
url = http://www.hindu.com/2007/04/28/stories/2007042807910500.htm
date = 2007-04-28
accessdate = 2007-05-13] ):
# Samajwadi Party (SP): 35.01 %
# Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP): 32.27%
# Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP): 28.05%
# Indian National Congress (INC) : 21.60%

The Election Commission of India, the autonomous body charged with conducting elections, was facing intense media pressure to check criminalization related irregularities in the electoral process. Extremely strict measures were enforced, bringing in 639 companies of paramilitary forces to prevent musclepower effects. Any deviations from prescribed norms led to candidates being debarred. To help manage the situation, elections were held in seven stages.

At least six candidates campaigned from jails, broadcasting live speeches through illegal mobile phones smuggled into their jail cells while jailors looked the other way.

However, partially owing to the strict measures adopted during elections, only 100 persons with criminal records won the elections (as opposed to 206 in the previous elections). These include the elected Chief Minister Mayawati, who is facing embezzlement charges stemming from the Rs.175 crore (USD 40 million) Taj Corridor Case, the leader of the opposition Mulayam Singh Yadav, and other ganglords and hardened criminals (see Criminal-Politicians below). In many of these instances, opposition campaigners did not feel safe enough to put up a vibrant campaign, and in some situations, the mainstream parties reached alliances with the criminals and did not put up serious competition (e.g. Mukhtar Ansari). However, to some extent, these victories may also reflect a perception that these criminal politicians are able to deliver some level of well-being to their communities.

For example, the Soraon Assembly constituency in Allahabad district is one where all 11 candidates in the fray had criminal cases pending against them. Here Mohd. Mustaba Siddiqi of the Bahujan Samaj Party (38280 votes, 29.41%) defeated Mohd. Ayub of the Samajwadi Party (32739/25.15%) [ [http://archive.eci.gov.in/May2007/pollupd/ac/states/s24/aconst257.htm Election Commission Results, Soraon Constituency] ] .

Alleged and convicted criminal-politicians who won

amajwadi Party

* Mukhtar Ansari, (Independent, supported by Samajwadi Party/Bharatiya Janata Party): won as (Independent) from Mau, while he was in Jhansi jail, facing charges in the murder of BJP ganglord-MLA from Ghazipur, Krishnanand Rai. His brother Afzal Ansari became the Lok Sabha MP from Ghazipur, after Krishnanand Rai was killed, and is also in jail for the murder, which was apparently executed by the Munna Bajrangi gang which is known to be close to the Ansari's [cite news
title = Contract issued to kill MLA
publisher = Hindustan Times
url = http://www.hvk.org/articles/1205/11.html
date = December 3, 2005
accessdate = 2007-05-29] . Mukhtar is named in 29 criminal cases (the third highest in these elections), but is close to Mulayam Singh Yadav, and the Samajwadi Party did not put up a candidate against him. He also is said to be close to Sonia Gandhi's Indian National Congress party, who put up only a dummy candidate, Gopal, against him; Gopal garnered only three thousand votes and lost his deposit. A large faction of the Mau Congress executive committee members had resigned en masse to protest against choosing such a dummy candidate [cite news
title = Cong executive committee members resign in Mau
author = Prabhu Razdan, Mau
publisher = Hindustan Times
url = http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?id=0e472242-32c7-4e6c-81d3-b94720979591
date = 2007-05-06
accessdate = 2007-05-29] . Despite Mukhtar's muscle power however, the BSP candidate Vijay Pratap managed to garner 42% of the vote, and Mukhtar won by seven thousand votes (47%) only [ [http://archive.eci.gov.in/May2007/pollupd/ac/states/s24/aconst204.htm Election Commission Results, Mau Constituency] ] .

* Amarmani Tripathi (Samajwadi Party): main accused in the poetess Madhumita Shukla murder case (his DNA has matched that of her foetus) [cite news
title = Amarmani's DNA matches Madhumita's foetus
author =
publisher = rediff.com
url = http://us.rediff.com/news/2003/sep/04up4.htm
date = 2003-09-04
accessdate = 2007-05-30] . Currently lodged at Gorakhpur Jail, where his case might take a long time to come to trial. He won the Lakshmipur Constituency seat in Gorakhpur District by a margin of nearly 20 thousand votes (12%).

* Raghuraj Pratap Singh (Independent, supported by Samajwadi Party/BJP): alias Raja Bhaiyya, with 35 criminal cases filed against him. Raja Bhaiyya is from the princely family of Kunda. A skull found in a palace pond allegedly belongs to scooterist Santosh Misra who was guilty of daring to overatake his convoy [cite news
title = Police framed evidence against Raja Bhaiya: Witness
author = Sharat Pradhan
publisher = rediff.com
url = http://rediff.co.in/news/2003/jan/28up1.htm
date = January 30, 2003] . He won as an independent from Kunda with an overwhelming margin of 53,000 votes (48%) over Shiv Prakash Mishra of the Bahujan Samaj Party.

* Mukhtar Ansari's eldest brother Sibakatullah Ansari (Samajwadi Party): won from Mohammadabad, which used to be the constituency for the slain BJP MLA Krishnanand Rai. Shibakatullah defeated Krishnanand's wife Alka Rai (BJP), who was standing on a platform of seeking justice for the murder of her husband, apparently by the Ansari's [cite news
title = In Ansari’s Mohammadabad, a fight for justice
author = Sanjay Singh
publisher = Indian Express
url = http://www.indianexpress.com/printerFriendly/29923.html
date = 2007-05-03
accessdate = 2007-05-29] .

* Chandrabhadra Singh alias Sonu (Samajwadi Party), from Issauli in Sultanpur district, is accused, along with seven others, in the murder of the gangster-Saint Gyaneshwar in Allahabad. After Mayawati's accession to power, Chandrabhadra was arrested as one of her first directives [cite news
title = SP MLA arrested in connection with murder case
author =
publisher = Zee News
url = http://zeenews.com/articles.asp?rep=2&aid=373602&sid=REG
date = 2007-05-27
accessdate = 2007-05-30] .

Bahujan Samaj Party

* Badshah Singh (BSP): Don from Maudaha, is facing six criminal charges, including attempted murder, extortion, and kidnapping. Won at Maudaha by defeating Apni Chiraiya Prajapati of the Samajwadi Party by a margin of 17 thousand votes (15%). Currently a Minister of State in the Mayawati cabinetcite news
title = Tainted Ministers dominate Mayawati’s Cabinet
publisher = India Tribune
url = http://www.indiatribune.com/popuparticle.aspx?Article_ID=6546
date = May 2007
accessdate = 2007-05-30] .

* Anand Sen Yadav, (BSP): Son of BSP gangster Member of Parliament Mitra Sen Yadav (currently being investigated in the human trafficking scam along with Babulal Katara). Anand, who is in Jail facing over 12 cases including murder and extortioncite news
title = Tainted Ministers dominate Mayawati’s Cabinet
publisher = India Tribune
url = http://www.indiatribune.com/popuparticle.aspx?Article_ID=6546
date = May 2007
accessdate = 2007-05-30] , won from Milkipur [ [http://archive.eci.gov.in/May2007/pollupd/ac/states/S24/Aconst120.htm results: 120] ] , and has been appointed Minister of State in the Mayawati cabinet.

* Daddan or Daddan Misra (Bahujan Samaj Party), from Bhinga. According to his election affidavit [cite web
title=Assembly Election 2007 - Affidavits filed by Candidate
publisher=Office of Chief Electoral Officer - Uttar Pradesh
url=http://ceouttarpradesh.nic.in/AFF/AFFIDAVITS/S24/SE/135/Daddan/Daddan.htm
accessdate=2007-05-13] , Daddan has cases registered under IPC 147, 148, 199, 448, 453, 323, 427, 511; [cite news
title = Tainted candidates make it to UP Assembly
author = Press Trust of India
publisher = Daily Pioneer
url = http://www.dailypioneer.com/indexn12.asp?main_variable=FLASH&file_name=cap6%2Etxt&counter_

date = 2007-05-13
accessdate = 2007-05-13Partial list of criminal-politicians who have won. ]

* Jamuna Nishad from Pipraich (cabinet minister, resigned on 2008-06-08 after being named in the murder of a policeman [cite news
title = Former Indian minister, 12 supporters arrested for allegedly killing police officer
author = Associated Press
publisher = International Herald Tribune
url = http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/06/10/asia/AS-GEN-India-Ex-Minister-Arrested.php
date = 2008-06-10
accessdate = 2008-06-10] .)
* Avadhpal Singh Yadav (BSP), won from Aliganj and is currently Minister of State.
* Sangram Singh (BSP) from Nawabganj (cabinet minister)
* Shazil Islam Ansari (BSP): won from Bhojipura, and appointed a minister of state in Maya cabinet.

Out of 19 ministers of state in the Mayawati cabinet, 8 have violent criminal charges pending against them.

Rashtriya Parivartan Dal

* D. P. Yadav, mafia don and erstwhile liquor baron from Western U.P. (Rashtriya Parivartan Dal): Scraped through from Sahaswan, with a 109 vote margin (0.1%) over the Samajwadi Party incumbent Omkar Singh [ [http://archive.eci.gov.in/May2007/pollupd/ac/states/s24/aconst26.htm Election Commission Results, Sahaswan Constituency] ]
* D. P. Yadav's wife Umlesh Yadav (Rashtriya Parivartan Dal) won more handily from Bisauli, defeating incumbent Samajwadi Party legislator Yogendra Singh Kunnu with a margin of 13,400 votes (10%) [ [http://archive.eci.gov.in/May2007/pollupd/ac/states/s24/aconst24.htm Election Commission Results, Bisauli Constituency] ] .

[cite news
title = Bitter poll pill for most mafia dons
author = M Hasan, Lucknow
publisher = Hindustan Times
url = http://www.hindustantimes.com/Redir.aspx?ID=80b1b866-3742-4886-bc95-dff71aabd935
date = 2007-05-13
accessdate = 2007-05-29]

Alleged and convicted criminal-politicians who lost

Rashtriya Lok Dal

* Chhotelal Vishwakarma of Rashtriya Lok Dal, with 24 cases against him, lost from Gangapur in Varanasi District. He polled only two thousand votes and lost his deposit. Surendra Singh Patel of the Samajwadi Party won from this constituency with a lead of ten thousand votes (6%) over Neel Ratan Patel of Apna Dal.

Apna Dal / Bharatiya Janata Party

* Pawan Pandey (Apna Dal, supported by Bharatiya Janata Party), who has 63 criminal cases pending against him (the highest number of cases pending against any candidate in this election [cite news
title = Will the Brahmin tilt be crucial in Phase VII?
author = Arun Chaubey
publisher = Zee News
url = http://www.zeenews.com/uppoll/fullstory.asp?aid=370115&sid=ZNS
date = May 2007
accessdate = 2007-05-29] ) lost in Akbarpur, trailing the winner Ram Achal Rajbhar of BSP by nearly twelve thousand votes (13%).

* Abhay Singh, a criminal-politician in jail charged with several murder cases against him, fielded his wife Sarita Singh on Apna Dal ticket from Bikapur seat in Faizabad district. At one point, he conducted a meeting with the sector-in-charge inside the jail [cite news
title = Behind bars, musclemen still keep EC on its toes
author = Siddharth Kalhans
publisher = Indian Express
url = http://www.indianexpress.com/story/29771.html
date = May 1, 2007
accessdate = 2007-05-13] . Abhay Singh has also been accused of making threatening calls to voters from inside the Faizabad jail. While Sarita Singh polled forty thousand votes, she came third, trailing the winner Jitendra Kumar Bablu Bhaiya (Bahujan Samaj Party) by 13 thousand votes (8%).

A number of other criminal politicians mentioned in the press, such as the new bandit queen Seema Parihar, wife of the slain dacoit Nirbhay Gujjar [cite news
title = Uttar Pradesh Assembly Polls : Gangsters join race for UP Assembly
publisher = Sify.com
url = http://sify.com/news/fullstory.php?id=14413910
date = April 2007
accessdate = 2007-05-12] , do not appear on the candidate lists, and may have been removed due to irregularitiesin their nomination papers or otherwise.

References