The people of Uttar Pradesh like to say they don’t spring surprises. On Tuesday they seemed to go against tradition, handing defeats to a host of high-profile BJP candidates.

Rahul Gandhi’s office assistant Kishori Lal Sharma, a rookie, overcame all odds to defeat Union minister Smriti Irani from Amethi.

And Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s consecration of the Ram temple — expected to be the “game changer” that would ensure a 400-plus majority for his party — could not even win the Faizabad (Ayodhya) seat for BJP candidate Lallu Singh. This despite Modi leading a road show in the constituency on May 5.

Several Union ministers bit the dust, among them junior home minister Ajay Mishra Teni, whose son is accused of mowing down four farmers and a journalist under his car in 2021, from Lakhimpur Kheri. Modi had for three years ignored widespread demands to sack Teni.

Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, the junior rural development minister known for minority bashing, lost in Fatehpur while Mahendra Nath Pandey, minister for skill development and entrepreneurship, was defeated in Chandauli. They all lost to Samajwadi candidates.

As for Modi himself, while the BJP had declared he would win from Varanasi by 10 lakh votes, his victory margin was just 1.52 lakh — down two-thirds from his 2019 margin of 4.79 lakh.

State Congress chief Ajay Rai, who was pitted against Modi, said: “The people of Varanasi have rejected Modi by rejecting his wish. He must read the writing on the wall and retreat.”

Some argued that the heartland had sprung no surprises at all but acted as it
had spoken throughout.

“Uttar Pradesh was extremely vocal in support of Modi in 2014 and 2019 and equally vocal against him in 2024. The deaf analysts didn’t hear the people’s anger against Modi,” said Devendra Gautam, a farmer from Mohanlalganj constituency in Lucknow district.

He said the people voted against “Modi’s lies about giving employment, the Centre’s anti-Constitution plans and the BJP’s emotional exploitation of people in the name of religion”.

“We defeated Modi’s arrogant man, (Union minister) Kaushal Kishore in Mohanlalganj,” he added.

Mayank Kumar, a writer from Banda, told The Telegraph: “There was a wave against Modi. The voters spoke freely against the central government but without revealing their identities, for they feared a witch-hunt.”

The main INDIA candidates won.

Rahul Gandhi triumphed by 3.89 lakh votes from Rae Bareli — having lost from twin seat Amethi to Irani the last time — while Samajwadi president Akhilesh Yadav won by 1.7 lakh votes from Kannauj.

“Rahul has taken revenge on Irani with his office assistant, Sharma, defeating her by more than 1.6 lakh votes,” Ikram Ali, an Amethi resident, said.

Akhilesh’s wife Dimple Yadav got re-elected from Manipuri by over 2 lakh votes.

Emerging Dalit leader Chandrashekhar, whose Aazad Samaj Party is an INDIA partner, won from Nagina by about 1.5 lakh votes.

But Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party couldn’t open its account.

Among the BJP candidates to win were defence minister Rajnath Singh (Lucknow)
and actress Hema Malini (Mathura).