Elections 98

State:	Uttar Pradesh
Constituency:	Basti (SC)
Total Votes Polled:	622433
Winner: BJP	Shriram Chauhan	244233
Runner Up: SP	Kalpnath Sonkar	174016
Margin: 70217 (29%)

Elections 96

State:	Uttar Pradesh
Constituency:	Basti (SC)
Total Votes Polled:	544459
Winner: BJP	Sriram Chauhan	199941
Runner Up: SP	Ramkaran Arya	150103
Margin: 49838 (9.35%)

A Congress bastion till 1989 that had voted non-Congress only once, in 1977, the constituency turned to the BJP in 1991. The BJP's Sriram Chauhan held on to the seat in 1996 as well, defeating the SP's Ramkaran Arya by 49,000 votes. The Congress was in fourth place, winning 3 % of the votes.