Seven-lap race goes to Mayawati

MAYA WAVE: Mayawati will stake her claim for the CM's post after a meeting of new BSP MLAs.

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New Delhi: The winner in the seven-phase election UP election is a woman who was once a teacher and joined politics in 1984.

Celebrations began outside BSP chief Mayawati's residence at 11 am by which time it had become clear that she was heading to victory.

While the early trends suggested that Mayawati might fall 20 to 25 seats short of majority, the momentum was clearly with her. At the end of the day, she was in a position to form a government on her own. A remarkable feat, as thrice before the BSP had depended on allies to form a government.

Her rising vote share was not only built on a solid Jatav vote, but also cut across all communities.. and regions, and even broke the caste divide..

"It gives me a great delight to inform you that people give a befitting reply. People of all castes, be it Brahmin, Kshatriya, Kyastha or numerous denominations of lower caste, voted us to power," Mayawati said at a press conference.

While Mayawati's supporters celebrated, the mood at the ruling Samajwadi Party headquarters was desolate and defeated. The party had even lost out in its tradiitonal bastions in the Doab region, with several sitting ministers being defeated. It was only after 3 p.m. that Mulayam Singh Yadav stepped out to submit his resignation to the Governor.

The three-time chief minister admitted that he had misread the mood of the electorate. Not even Amitabh Bahchan's star turn for the Samajwadi Party had helped him but he still blame at someone else's door for his poor show.

“The Election Commission ran a parallel government against the state government,” he alleged.

But with Mayawati clearly besting Mulayam in what had become a highly personalised battle some questions remained. Would Mayawati follow her poll promise and put Mulayam Singh and his key aide Amar Singh in jail. And would she focus on a development oriented agenda that went beyond vendetta politics.

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