the SP and the BSP 16 and 10 seats, respectively, and where the SP was expected to do better on account of previous parliamentary performance, it was the other way around. In Allahabad, from where the BSP had won nine out of 14 seats, the party' s tally was brought down to three. But in other districts of the Lower Doab, Kanpur and Fatehpur, former strongholds of V P Singh where the Janata Dal and prime minister Deve Gowda had pitched up their stakes, it was the BSP which did well. The party also competed with the SP in giving a tough fight to the BJP in the saffron strongholds of central UP and Avadh. In Bundelkhand too, the BSP won 10 seats, pipping past the BJP (7) and the UF (3).
