Mayavati

New Delhi, Oct. 20: The Maharashtra election verdict is giving the Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and the BJP the jitters.

All three parties are worried at the polarisation of Muslim votes in favour of the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party combine, with the Samajwadi Party and the BSP drawing a blank as the minorities did not vote for them.

The trend could cost the three parties dear if it recurs during the 2007 Uttar Pradesh polls.

The BJP had hoped that the BSP, which contested 272 out of Maharashtra?s 288 seats, and the Samajwadi Party, which put up candidates in 95 seats, would split the secular votes. Instead, Muslims rallied behind the ruling combine just before the elections, the BSP and Samajwadis admit.

They said Muslim organisations such as the All India Milli Council, Jamaat-i-Islami and the All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat were keen to ensure that the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance did not benefit from a division in minority votes. The Muslim vote is crucial in areas like Jalgaon, Malegaon, Aurangabad, Nashik and Konkan and some Mumbai constituencies.

Even so, in a state with a 20 per cent Muslim electorate ? Muslims account for 15 per cent of Maharashtra?s population ? the Samajwadi Party secured just 1 per cent of votes. The BSP won no more than 4 per cent of the votes despite contesting more seats than any other party.

Samajwadi Party leaders were shocked that even state unit chief and Rajya Sabha MP Abu Asim Azmi lost despite a high-pitched campaign by star duo Jaya Prada and Jaya Bachchan.

BSP chief Mayavati has blamed Congress ?propaganda? that its presence would benefit the BJP-Sena for scaring minorities off voting for her party. Mayavati said her party would have won a few seats in Vidarbha had it not been for the ?propaganda?.

?Dalit voters did not get misled but non-Dalits such as OBCs and religious minorities got carried away. As a result we lost everywhere,? the BSP chief said.

Putting up a brave face, Mayavati said the party?s vote share had increased to 4 per cent and ?a bright future awaits us in the state?. ?Nobody can prevent us from playing the role of king-maker? during the next elections, she added.

The Samajwadi Party won four seats in the 1999 Maharashtra Assembly elections. The BSP polled 3.06 per cent of the votes during May?s Lok Sabha elections, bagging between 10,000 and 50,000 votes in about a dozen seats.

Both parties secured Muslim votes in some seats but neither could retain the community?s favour this time around.