Story · Power
The BSP’s vote: 2.1% of the Lok Sabha vote in 1989, 6.2% in 2009 and 2.1% in 2024; in Uttar Pradesh’s assembly, 30.4% at its peak in 2007
How have the Bahujan Samaj Party’s votes and seats changed, across India and in Uttar Pradesh?
The Bahujan Samaj Party’s (BSP) seats and share of the vote at general elections to the Lok Sabha, the lower house of India’s Parliament, from 1989 to 2024, India-wide and by State, and at general elections to the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly from 1989 to 2022, as the Election Commission of India’s statistical reports give them.
- BSP share of the Lok Sabha vote in 2009, its highest in the elections shown
- 6.2%
- Uttar Pradesh assembly seats the BSP won in 2007, of those it contested
- 206 of 403
Exhibit 2
The BSP won the most Lok Sabha seats, 21 of the 500 it contested, in 2009
Bahujan Samaj Party candidates at each general election to the Lok Sabha: seats contested and won, deposits forfeited, votes and share of all valid votes, 1989 to 2024.
Table of 10 Lok Sabha elections with the BSP's seats contested, won and forfeited, its votes and its vote share.
Election States contested Seats contested Seats won Deposits forfeited Votes Share of the vote 1989 18 245 3 221 6,213,390 2.07% 1991 17 231 2 211 4,420,719 1.61% 1996 16 210 11 138 13,453,235 4.02% 1998 17 251 5 176 17,186,779 4.67% 1999 16 225 14 154 15,175,845 4.16% 2004 25 435 19 358 20,765,229 5.33% 2009 24 500 21 410 25,728,920 6.17% 2014 – 503 0 447 22,946,346 4.19% 2019 26 383 10 345 22,246,501 3.66% 2024 26 488 0 476 13,153,830 2.06% Note: Deposits forfeited are ECI’s count of the party’s candidates who lost their security deposit. From 2009, ECI’s reports give no count of States; States contested are those where the party had a candidate in ECI’s constituency results. No count is shown for 2014: ECI’s constituency file for that year leaves out some States.
Source: Election Commission of India, statistical reports of the general elections to the Lok Sabha: 1989 to 2004, “Votes polled by parties: national summary”; 2009 to 2024, “Performance of national parties”. Analysis by The Dalit Project, as on 11 Oct 2026. Exhibit 4
The BSP won 206 seats in Uttar Pradesh’s assembly in 2007, and 1 in 2022
Bahujan Samaj Party candidates at each general election to the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly: seats contested and won, deposits forfeited, votes and share of all valid votes, 1989 to 2022.
Table of 9 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections with the BSP's seats contested, won and forfeited, its votes and its vote share.
Election Seats contested Seats won Deposits forfeited Votes Share of the vote 1989 372 13 282 3,664,417 9.41% 1991 386 12 299 3,532,683 9.44% 1993 164 67 40 5,554,076 11.12% 1996 296 67 28 10,890,716 19.64% 2002 401 98 91 12,374,388 23.06% 2007 403 206 36 15,872,561 30.43% 2012 403 80 51 19,647,303 25.91% 2017 403 19 81 19,281,340 22.23% 2022 403 1 287 11,873,137 12.88% Note: ECI’s report for 1985 does not list the Bahujan Samaj Party, so that year has no row; it is not shown as zero. The party did not contest every seat in every year, so seats won are best read against seats contested.
Source: Election Commission of India, statistical reports of the general elections to the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly, 1989 to 2022, “Performance of political parties”. Analysis by The Dalit Project, as on 11 Oct 2026. Exhibit 5
In the 2024 Lok Sabha election the BSP polled 9.5% in Uttar Pradesh; its highest share anywhere else was 3.3%, in Madhya Pradesh
Bahujan Samaj Party votes as a share of all valid votes polled in each State and Union Territory where it contested, %, general election to the Lok Sabha, 2024.
Bars: BSP share of the vote by State, Lok Sabha 2024. Uttar Pradesh 9.5%; Madhya Pradesh 3.3%; Punjab 2.5%; Uttarakhand 1.8%; Bihar 1.8%; Chandigarh 1.5%; Haryana 1.3%; Chhattisgarh 1.2%; Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu 1.1%; Jharkhand 0.9%; Gujarat 0.8%; Maharashtra 0.7%; Rajasthan 0.7%; NCT OF Delhi 0.7%; Andhra Pradesh 0.7%; Himachal Pradesh 0.5%; Odisha 0.4%; Telangana 0.4%; West Bengal 0.4%; Jammu and Kashmir 0.4%; Goa 0.4%; Andaman & Nicobar Islands 0.4%; Karnataka 0.3%; Tamil Nadu 0.3%; Kerala 0.3%; Puducherry 0.2%.
- Uttar Pradesh9.5%
- Madhya Pradesh3.3%
- Punjab2.5%
- Uttarakhand1.8%
- Bihar1.8%
- Chandigarh1.5%
- Haryana1.3%
- Chhattisgarh1.2%
- Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu1.1%
- Jharkhand0.9%
- Gujarat0.8%
- Maharashtra0.7%
- Rajasthan0.7%
- NCT OF Delhi0.7%
- Andhra Pradesh0.7%
- Himachal Pradesh0.5%
- Odisha0.4%
- Telangana0.4%
- West Bengal0.4%
- Jammu and Kashmir0.4%
- Goa0.4%
- Andaman & Nicobar Islands0.4%
- Karnataka0.3%
- Tamil Nadu0.3%
- Kerala0.3%
- Puducherry0.2%
Note: States and Union Territories are as ECI named them in 2024. Only those where the party put up a candidate are shown. Each share is the party’s votes over all valid votes in the State’s constituencies, without votes for None of the Above (NOTA), added up from ECI’s constituency results; together they match ECI’s national totals vote for vote.
Source: Election Commission of India, statistical report of the general election to the Lok Sabha, 2024, “Constituency wise detailed result”, added up by State by The Dalit Project. Analysis by The Dalit Project, as on 11 Oct 2026.
About this data
- What this shows
- The Bahujan Samaj Party’s seats and share of the vote at each Lok Sabha election, India-wide and by State, and at each Uttar Pradesh assembly election, from ECI’s own reports.
- Source
- Election Commission of India, 23 documents, Votes polled by parties: national summary; votes polled by parties in States/UTs, Constituency wise detailed result, added up by State and Performance of political parties. Analysis by The Dalit Project, as on 11 Oct 2026. Every source
- What it does not show
- Where the BSP’s voters went, or the caste of any voter or candidate: ECI counts votes by seat and records no voter’s caste.
- Last updated
- 11 Oct 2026 · Next expected update: after the next general election to the Lok Sabha or the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly
- Corrections
- Changelog (version 1) · Corrections policy