2002 Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly election

2002 Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly election

← 1996 February - March 2002 2007 →

All 403 seats of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly
202 seats needed for a majority
Turnout53.80% (Decrease 1.93%)
  Majority party Minority party
 
Leader Mulayam Singh Yadav Mayawati
Party SP BSP
Leader's seat Did not contest Harora
Jahangirganj
Last election 107 65
Seats won 143 98
Seat change Increase 36 Increase 33
Popular vote 13,612,509 12,374,388
Percentage 25.37% 23.06%
Swing Increase 3.57% Increase 3.42%

  Third party Fourth party
 
Leader Rajnath Singh Pramod Tiwari
Party BJP INC
Alliance NDA -
Leader's seat Haidergarh Rampur Khas
Last election 151 31
Seats won 88 25
Seat change Decrease 63 Decrease 6
Popular vote 10,776,078 4,810,231
Percentage 20.08% 8.96%
Swing Decrease 12.44% Increase 0.61%

  Fifth party Sixth party
 
Leader Chaudhary Ajit Singh Kalyan Singh
Party RLD Rashtriya Kranti Party
Leader's seat Not Contested Atrauli
Last election New New
Seats won 14 4
Seat change New New
Popular vote 1,332,810 1,812,535
Percentage 2.48% 3.38%
Swing New New

Chief Minister before election

Rajnath Singh
BJP

Elected Chief Minister

Mulayam Singh Yadav
SP

Elections to the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly were held in 2002. Following a spell of 56 days of President's Rule from 3 March to 2 May 2002, Mayawati became Chief Minister on 3 May 2002 for the third time after the BJP extended support to the BSP. BJP state president Kalraj Mishra resigned, and was replaced by Vinay Katiyar, who thought up slogans like "Haathi nahin Ganesh hai, Brahma Vishnu Mahesh hai" to defend the alliance. But the problems kept mounting, and Mayawati resigned in August 2003.

On 29 August 2003, Mulayam Singh Yadav was sworn in as the Chief Minister with the support of BSP dissidents and ran the government until 2007. It is said that BJP leaders convinced Vajpayee that Yadav would help in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections — Mulayam did not, however, help, and while the NDA lost power at the centre. Some BJP leaders continue to believe that Mulayam would have been marginalised had he not been helped in 2003.[1]

  1. ^ "Uttar Pradesh: A political history". indianexpress.com/. 11 March 2017.