Third political force in the State, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) is considered strong in Haridwar and Udham Singh Nagar districts but the party is perceived to be in a position to affect the outcome of results in other areas of the State also. Though not able to challenge the dominance of the Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party in the State, the BSP is slowly but steadily increasing its vote share.
The party got 10.9 per cent votes and won seven seats in the first Assembly elections of the State in the year 2002. In the elections of 2007, the party increased its vote percentage to 11.8 by winning on eight seats. In the elections of 2012, the party further increased its vote share and cornered 12.2 percent of total votes polled but could manage to win only three seats. This time too the party is hoping to increase its vote share and increase its tally of seats. Two back to back rallies of Party chief Mayawati has infused life among the supporters of the party in the State.
In these elections, one could see large number of blue flags along with flags of both Congress and BJP in all parts of the State.
The political observers feel that apart from Haridwar and Udham Singh Nagar where the party is very strong the increasing vote share of BSP could pose problems for BJP and Congress in districts like Almora, Nainital and Dehradun. In many constituencies of these districts the BSP candidates stood second or third in last assembly elections. In Dehradun the party is hoping to do well in Dharmpur, Raipur, Rajpur Road, Sahaspur and Vikasnagar constituencies. Similarly the party got a good number of vote in the Didihat, Bageshwar, Almora, Baheshwar and Champawat assembly constituencies in previous assembly elections.
The analysts however feel that though the party would not be able to win any seats outside Haridwar and Udham Singh Nagar districts, it is expected to negatively affect the performance of Congress candidates as the both these parties stake claim on similar vote bank.
However the party is focusing more in twenty assembly constituencies of Haridwar and Udham Singh Nagar. Both these districts have a sizeable population of Dalit and Muslims, the traditional vote banks of the party in the state. Haridwar district with a population of about seven lakh Dalit and Muslim votes holds the key for party’s performance in state. In the elections of 2012 the party was able to garner 29 percent of total polled votes from 11 constituencies of Haridwar district with its candidates winning from Bhagwanpur, Jhabreda and Manglaur seats. In Udham Singh Nagar district BSP candidates won from Sitarganj and Pantnagar- Gadarpur seats in the elections of 2002 and 2007. But in the elections of 2012 BSP failed to win a single seat but managed to corner an impressive 21 percent of votes from here.