UP's notorious dons are winners

BIG Bs OF UP: Clockwise from top Raja Bhaiyya, Amarmani Tripathi, Mukhtar Ansari and DP Yadav won from their respective seats.

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New Delhi: The 2007 assembly elections have been the most peaceful and violence-free polls in the history of Uttar Pradesh. But that has not stopped the Bahubalis or the Big Bad Boys of UP from winning. Almost all the big musclemen of the state are back.

Big B might have failed to move the Uttar Pradesh Electorate, but the real big Bs or the Big Bahubalis of the state are back. The bahubalis, or the real Big Bs of UP, have had a cakewalk across the state.

Raghuraj Pratap Singh, also called as Raja Bhaiyya, is a terror for voters in his constituency. Famously sent to jail by Mayawati during her earlier stint, the Thakur don has won comfortably from Kunda in Pratapgarh district.

Former state minister and Samajwadi Party leader Amarmani Tripathi, an accused in the sensational Madhumita Shukla murder case, has won from the Lakshmipur seat in Eastern UP. Tripathi, of course, was not there to savour his victory as he is presently lodged in the Dehradun district jail.

Another heavyweight, Mukhtar Ansari fought as an independent in Mau. Like the other two, he fought his election from behind the bars and voters still cast their lot with their big man.

Probably the most infamous don from UP, D P Yadav, too won from Sahaswan in western UP, almost making a clean sweep for this elite club.

Even as these elections are about Mayawati's thunderous victory, the polls are probably as much about the success of the real Big Bs of UP, who have weaved their own mayajaal on voters.