Anti-Incumbency Behind BJP's Uttar Pradesh Losses? 24 Seats Where Party Is Trailing Had Incumbent MPs

Giving a big jolt to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party (SP) is leading in 37 seats of Uttar Pradesh, while the former is leading in 32 seats.

The BJP had an incumbent MP on 24 of the seats, where the BJP is trailing behind. Moreover, 14 of these seats had a two-time BJP MP, who won in 2014 and 2019.

These seats are of Aligarh, Basti, Chandauli, Dhaurahra, Etah, Faizabad, Fatehpur, Jalaun, Kaushambi, Kheri, Salempur, Sitapur, Muzaffarnagar and Mohanlalganj.

The other seats with incumbent BJP MPs, where the party is trailing are Azamgarh, Banda, Etawah, Kairana, Kannauj, Machhlishahr, Sultanpur, Rampur, Pratapgarh and Amethi.

This indicates that there might have been a wave of anti-incumbency against the sitting BJP MPs. However, the party failed to accommodate this factor during ticket distribution.

This brings down the BJP's tally in Uttar Pradesh from the 2019 elections, where it won 62 seats. The trends are also opposed to exit poll predictions that expected around 65 seats for the BJP.