The remarkable turnaround by the **Samajwadi Party-Congress alliance** in **Uttar Pradesh**, where they won **43 of the 80 seats**, was not just sheer coincidence but was due to a host of factors like ticket distribution, **PDA (pichada, Dalits, alpsahkhyaks or minorities) outreach**, and more.

**Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party** emerged as the single-largest party in Uttar Pradesh, winning **37 seats**, up from the **five** it won in 2019.

It played a key role in reducing the ruling **BJP's tally to 33 seats** from the **62** it won in the 2019 polls.

It also prevented the BJP from achieving a majority of **272** on its own.

The **Congress**, which won just a solitary seat in 2019, bagged **six seats** this time, while **Mayawati's BSP** failed to open its account.

A region-wise analysis shows that the Samajwadi Party secured gains in the **western, central, and eastern parts** of the state.

Interestingly, the party also won **three seats in Bundelkhand**, which was dominated by the BJP in the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

The Samajwadi Party gained the maximum number of seats in **eastern UP** at **18**, followed by **six seats in the Jat-dominated western belt**.

The BJP's decline in eastern UP is surprising since **Prime Minister Narendra Modi** and **Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath** represent **Varanasi and Gorakhpur**, both of which fall in the eastern region.

The Congress also gained **two seats in the eastern region**, while the BJP was pegged back by **13 seats**.

The BJP won **28 seats and 24 seats** out of the total **32** in eastern Uttar Pradesh in 2014 and 2019 respectively.

The **INDIA bloc** also made massive gains in the politically sensitive western region, gaining **seven seats**.

The BJP, on the other hand, lost **six seats** despite getting **Jayant Chaudhary's Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD)** on board.

In this region, out of the **26 seats**, the NDA has won only **13 seats**.

In 2019, its tally was **18**.

In the first phase, the INDIA bloc nearly swept all the seats, winning **five of the eight**.

The NDA got only **two seats**.

The trouble signs for the BJP were visible ahead of the polls due to a rebellion by **Rajputs** who have traditionally voted for the saffron party.

The anger among the Rajputs, who constitute around **10-13%** of the state population, had been simmering for some time as the community perceived that it was being sidelined within the BJP.

The anger compounded as they were sidelined in ticket distribution at the expense of **Gurjars and Jats**.

In fact, the BJP fielded only one Rajput candidate, **Kunwar Sarvesh Singh**, in the eight constituencies that voted in the first phase.

Singh, however, died a day after the polls.

The remaining eight constituencies in the western belt saw no Rajput representation by the BJP.

Another major factor that worked in favor of the Samajwadi Party was its ticket distribution strategy as per a well-crafted social engineering plan.

This time, the SP gave most tickets to **non-Yadav OBCs and Dalits**, resulting in the party's best-ever performance in a Lok Sabha election.

Till now, the SP's best performance was in 2004, when it won **35 seats**.

Akhilesh Yadav gave tickets to only **five Yadavs and four Muslims**.

Last time, it had fielded **10 Yadavs**.

This time, the party fielded **27 candidates belonging to non-Yadav OBCs**.

The 'PDA' strategy paid good dividends to the party as it gained **25 seats in OBC-reserved constituencies**.

It also gained **six seats in Muslim-dominated constituencies**.

Akhilesh Yadav's party, which shed the tag of being a **MY (Muslim+Yadav) party**, virtually swept the seats in the **Purvanchal region**, where non-Yadav OBCs and Dalits form a major chunk of the electorate.

The SP's decision to field Dalits from **Meerut and Faizabad (Ayodhya)** too worked wonders for the party.

What took all by surprise was the BJP candidate **Lallu Singh's** loss to Samajwadi Party's **Awadhesh Prasad** in Faizabad, which houses the newly inaugurated **Ram temple**.

On the other hand, the BJP, which gave maximum tickets to upper castes, lost **23 seats in constituencies dominated by OBCs**.

It also suffered losses in **Brahmin-dominated and Muslim-dominated seats**.