Gorakhpur. The commitment of castes towards parties broke in this election. BJP, which lost three seats and went down from nine to six, showed new doors to the opposition even where it won. The result which shattered the political equations of caste made it clear that everybody got votes everywhere. BSP, which used to monopolize the deprived votes, did not hesitate to go with SP-Congress in the "fight to save the Constitution".

Upper caste voters, who are considered to be staunch BJP supporters, also openly rode the cycle. The new thing that emerged was that the voters who had left the BJP liked the friendship of SP-Congress more than BSP-SP. In the Indi alliance, SP contested from Gorakhpur, Kushinagar, Dumariyaganj, Salempur, Basti and Sant Kabir Nagar while Congress contested from Maharajganj, Bansgaon and Deoria.SP won three out of six seats while Congress managed to win the hearts of voters even after losing. This surprising election result in BJP's stronghold Gorakhpur-Basti division has given rise to new politics in this region which is infamous for caste politics. Booth-wise results in community dominated areas are confirming this.

First let's talk about Congress. Congress could not even secure one lakh votes against BJP's veteran leader Pankaj Chaudhary who won by a margin of 3.40 lakh votes from Maharajganj in the last election but this time it garnered five and a half lakh votes. Farenda MLA Virendra Chaudhary who lost by 35 thousand votes remained ahead in his constituency due to the support of Dalit, extremely backward and upper caste voters and also gave a tough fight in Nautanwa and Maharajganj.

Something similar happened in Bansgaon. Three-time MP Kamlesh Paswan, who won by more than one lakh votes, had to struggle till the end with Congress candidate Sadal Prasad for victory. Except Rudrapur and Chaurichaura, Sadal got an edge in Bansgaon, Barhaj and Chillupar assembly constituencies which have a majority of upper caste and deprived voters.

Kamlesh, who won by a margin of less than five thousand votes, could not even register victory in the Bansgaon assembly constituency reserved for scheduled castes from where his younger brother Dr. Vimlesh Paswan is an MLA. The contest that was seen in the Brahmin-dominated Deoria seat also showed a shattered caste equation.

Not only in Pathardewa, the constituency of Agriculture Minister Surya Pratap Shahi, but also in Rampur Karkhana, Congress candidate Akhilesh Singh got so many votes from Brahmin, Rajput, deprived and other backward class voters that he went ahead of the BJP candidate. In SP's PDA formula, (P) backward, (D) deprived with (A) minority or forward, this mystery kept the voters confused throughout the election.

SP fielded backward (two Nishad, one Rajbhar, one Sainthwar and one Kurmi) candidates on five of the six seats and forward (Brahmin) candidates on one. Kurmi candidate Ramprasad Chaudhary, who contested on behalf of SP, got support from every section in Harraiya as well as Basti Sadar, Rudhauli, Mahdeva and Kaptanganj areas.

Ramprasad's victory margin in Mahdeva reserved assembly seat was more than 25 thousand votes. Although SP lost Dumariyaganj, the victory-defeat margin was around 45 thousand due to the large number of Brahmin and deprived votes. BJP had won this seat by more than one lakh votes last time.

In Sant Kabir Nagar seat, where BJP was expecting a huge margin in Brahmin and deprived dominated Khajni assembly seat, BJP candidate Praveen Nishad could only manage a lead of 10 thousand votes. In Mehdaval, Dhanghata, Alaapur and Khalilabad, Laxmikant Nishad registered victory by making inroads into the votes of Brahmin, deprived and other backward classes.

In Gorakhpur and Kushinagar too, SP candidates got votes from every section, due to which the margin of victory and defeat reduced compared to the previous elections. On Salempur seat, SP's Ramashankar Rajbhar got a lot of votes from upper caste voters in Salempur assembly, due to which SP remained ahead even in the stronghold of BJP candidate Ravindra Kushwaha.