NDTV Battleground Uttar Pradesh: Understanding Mayawati's Politics
"Bipolarity reduced her vote share. Her party is number 3 in non-jaatav voters according to Axis-MySurvey. First is BJP then SP and then BSP," said Amitabh Tiwari, Political Strategist.
"There is more bipolar competition in UP and that's why BSP is now more of a 3rd player. OBC vote might go to BJP, non-jatatav dalit vote might go to BJP, SP. Jaatav vote might stay with BSP but she's losing some support, we saw that in the last election," said Sandeep Shastri, Director - Academics, NITTE Education Trust.
"In 2019 when the Grand Alliance was made in UP, the best possible Opposition alliance, you ignored a 12.5% partner and brought Congress with a 2.5% partner. I don't understand the maths. This election will be the baseline, will bipolarisation take place or Mayawati will be able to hold her 12.5% vote share? If it further reduces then I think existential crisis will happen for BSP," said Yashwant Deshmukh, Founder and Director, CVoter.