News Analysis India

Tag: UP assembly elections

  • Dalit, backwards shouldn’t expect anything from Samajwadi Party: Mayawati 

    In the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls, Verma had won from the Katehari seat, while Rajbhar won from the Akbarpur assembly constituency.

  • 2022 Uttar Pradesh polls: Om Prakash Rajbhar’s SBSP seals alliance with Samajwadi Party

    Express News Service

    LUCKNOW: The realignment of political forces in Uttar Pradesh is taking place at a fast pace now as former minister in the Yogi Adityanath government and Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP) chief Om Prakash Rajbhar on Wednesday sealed a pre-poll alliance with the Samajwadi Party for the 2022 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections.

    Rajbhar, along with Chief General Secretary of SBSP Arvind Rajbhar, met SP chief Akhilesh Yadav in Lucknow and said that now the SBSP and Samajwadi Party will go together to ensure the defeat of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

    Taking to Twitter after meeting Akhilesh Yadav, Rajbhar posted: “This time, the BJP will be wiped out. Samajwadi Party and Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party have come together. The days of the BJP government, which betrayed all sections along with Dalits, backward minorities, are numbered. Had a courtesy meeting with former CM and SP Chief Akhilesh Yadav today.”

    The SBSP chief had recently said that anything was possible in politics and had given hints of rejoining the NDA. He had also kept a list of conditions for the BJP. Rajbhar had also met UP BJP chief Swatantra Dev Singh at his residence some time back fuelling speculation of an alliance with the BJP once again.

    However, interacting with mediapersons later, SBSP national spokesperson Piyush Mishra said the decision on the alliance was final but seat-sharing would be finalised later. He claimed that more and more parties of the Bhagidari Sankalp Morcha, which Rajbhar was heading, would also be adjusted in the alliance.

    ALSO READ: SBSP chief Rajbhar hints at return to old alliance with BJP ahead of 2022 Uttar Pradesh polls

    Rajbhar has been spearheading a campaign to take smaller regional and caste-based parties along. He had named a conglomerate of 10 smaller parties as Bhagidari Sankalp Morcha. However, Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM is also a part of the Bhagidari Morcha.

    On the question of AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi being part of the Morcha or not, Mishra said that if required, the SBSP would part ways with AIMIM as things were not yet final regarding the AIMIM coming along with them in the Morcha. It may be recalled that Owaisi has been a strong critic of the Samajwadi Party claiming that it had used Muslims only as a vote bank and had not done anything concrete for their uplift all this while.

    The Rajbhar-led Bhagidari Sankalp Morcha had announced a big rally in Mau on October 27, and it is now expected that Rajbhar may share the stage with Akhilesh, who already has a programme scheduled in neighboring Ghazipur district the same day.

    About seat sharing, Rajbhar said even if the Samajwadi Party did not leave a single seat for the SBSP, he would still contest the 2022 polls in alliance with Akhilesh Yadav.

    Meanwhile, in an official statement, the Samajwadi Party also confirmed joining hands with the SBSP for the 2022 polls. “The Samajwadi government under the leadership of National President Shri Akhilesh Yadav has done countless works for the poor, downtrodden and backward classes, including the underprivileged, exploited, farmers, youth, women, businessmen. Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party, which has raised the voice for the rights of the weak, along with the Samajwadi Party, is ready to take UP on the path of development. This is the beginning of the end of the oppressive rule of the BJP,” the party stated. “There are 18-22% Rajbhar voters in Purvanchal with SBSP. The party has influence in more than 150 seats of Purvanchal. There is deep penetration in the assembly seats of Varanasi division, Devipatan division, Gorakhpur division, Azamgarh division of the state. SBSP also has a strong hold on sub-castes like Bansi, Aarkh, Arkvanshi, Kharwar, Kashyap, Pal, Prajapati, Bind, Banjara, Bari, Biar, Vishwakarma, Nai and Paswan,” it added. 

  • BJP plans centralised poll management in UP; ministers to take charge

    Express News Service

    NEW DELHI:  The BJP is bracing for a centralised management of the upcoming Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, with scores of ministers being roped in to take charges of the districts for sharp micro-management amid the assessment that the party will be up against another Opposition grand alliance.

    In addition to the panel headed by the Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan who is the election in-charge, the BJP is gearing up to field its full battery of ministers to take poll responsibilities in UP, which is slated to go to polls in February-March next year. The ministers who have already been roped in for poll tasks in UP have begun travelling to parts of the states to identify the issues on which the BJP will need to build poll narrative along with its counter strategy against the agenda being brought forth by the Opposition parties, said a leader.

    Mindful that the outcome of the UP elections will set the course of the national politics, which will also be watched out by some political parties to forge prospective alliances in future, the BJP will seek to build a suitable narrative in UP to overwhelm the identity politics, said another leader. 

    To shore up its electoral chances, the BJP is also bracing up to bring in political workers, known for their election management credentials, from other states, including Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Maharashtra, to man each polling booth in the 403 assembly constituencies. “Such political workers will directly report to the central team in Delhi to share realtime feedback on which expeditious actions will be initiated,” added the party leader.       

    After the festive season, the BJP leaders, including ministers, will regularly camp in various parts of UP. The Union ministers belonging to UP, along with Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha MPs, will be taking charge of each district.

    A few of the ministers who have returned after initial visits to parts of the state have listed out some of the issues, which the BJP will need to address. These include issues like unemployment in Poorvanchal, farmers not able to fetch the Minimum Support Prices, and early signs of loosening of consolidation of the non-Yadav other backward castes in favour of the party.

    Nadda to visit Manipur for review of poll prepNew Delhi: BJP chief J P Nadda will start his visits to poll-bound states from Manipur where he will take stock of the preparations for the assembly elections next year this weekend. He will be on a two- day visit to Manipur starting Saturday. During his visit, Nadda will take part in sone key programmes and will guide the BJP state unit leaders and workers on various issues, said Rajya Sabha MP Anil Baluni. The BJP chief will visit a booth president’s residence at Utlou (Nambol mandal) and have lunch at his residence, said Baluni.

  • Akhilesh Yadav announces ‘Samajwadi Vijay Yatra’ from Oct 12 in UP 

    By PTI

    LUCKNOW: Aiming to connect with the masses ahead of the 2022 Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday announced the ‘Samajwadi Vijay Yatra’ from October 12 in the state.

    SP chief spokesperson Rajendra Chowdhury said its objective was to make people aware about the “corrupt, autocratic and suppressive” policies of the BJP government and to establish real democracy.

    He said the SP president is going to take out the ‘Samajwadi Vijay Yatra’ from October 12 to uproot the inhuman government in the state.

    “Akhilesh Yadav’s yatras are for change in the state. His first ‘Kranti yatra’ as SP state president started on July 31, 2001, and then he took out the ‘Samajwadi Party Kranti Rath Yatra’ from September 12, 2011,” he said.

    The details of the routes have not been shared by the party yet.

  • JDU to contest UP polls, may go it alone if BJP not ready for truck

    By PTI

    PATNA: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) on Thursday made it clear that it sought to contest assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh where it would prefer to have a truck with BJP though if that did not materialise, it would not shy away from going it alone.

    The party’s parliamentary board chief Upendra Kushwaha made an averment to this effect in response to questions from journalists about the JD(U)’s plans in UP where assembly polls are due early next year.

    “Undoubtedly we are going to fight there. Of course, we would prefer to do so in alliance with the BJP. Though if that does not materialise, we may choose to go it alone,” Kushwaha said.

    The BJP, which is a partner in the ruling coalition in Bihar, heads the government in the neighbouring state where it won a landslide victory five years ago.

    Home to 80 Lok Sabha seats, UP has been witness to stupendous performances by the BJP in 2014 and 2019 and the saffron party, under the leadership of Yogi Adityanath, needs to register yet another emphatic win next year to build the tempo ahead of the all-important general elections in 2024.

    The JD(U), although a BJP partner in Bihar and nationally, has charted a different course in other states.

    It had fought against the saffron party in the latter’s strongholds like Gujarat, without making much impact.

    It achieved some success in Arunachal Pradesh, becoming the main opposition party though the BJP, which came to power, recently weaned away many JD(U) MLAs leaving the party weak in the northeastern state.

    In UP, the JD(U) has experimented with many alliances, including one with Apna Dal, then headed by its founder Sone Lal Patel whose daughter Anupriya now leads one of its factions and is a minister in the Narendra Modi government at the Centre.

    Kushwaha was also asked about the JD(U)’s prospects in by-polls to two assembly seats in Bihar due next month.

    “We face no challenge. Both Kusheshwar Asthan and Tarapur were our seats and fell vacant upon sad demise of the incumbents. Our victory is certain. We are only trying to ensure that the margin is big,” asserted Kushwaha who returned to the JD(U) earlier this year, merging the RLSP that he had floated in 2013 after parting ways.

    Kushwaha, who had served as a Union minister while he was heading the RLSP, was also asked about the state’s poor ranking in the Niti Aayog report on sustainable development goals, which have come as an embarrassment in the face of Nitish Kumar government’s claims of good governance besides bringing fresh spotlight on the need for special incentives to the state.

    “Indeed, Bihar needs special assistance. The Centre must grant that. It may give it whatever name it likes to give to the help,” said Kushwaha referring to the JD(U)’s persistent demands for special category status which the Union government has been turning down on technical grounds.

    “As far as low ranking is concerned, do not go much by that. Rankings are based on statistics. Having seen the functioning of governments at close quarters, I can assure you that figures rarely do justice to the picture on the ground,” he added.

  • 2022 UP polls: Priyanka to spend 5 days a week in state to see ground reality

    Express News Service

    LUCKNOW: Working day in and day out to revive Congress in UP ahead of 2022 electoral battle, Congress general Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra seems to be ready with her master plan. As per the plan, she would now spare five days a week to the party in the state and spend only the weekend in Delhi.

    Priyanka has reportedly prepared an elaborated plan to tour the state and stay in different districts to get the pulse on the ground.

    As per the highly-placed Congress sources, Priyanka will sound her party’s poll bugle from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s parliamentary constituency Varanasi on October 10. She would also supervise Congress’s ambitious Pratigya Yatra which would take off on October 17. During the Yatra, to take off from four different places in the state, the Congressmen would reach out to the common man to expose the alleged failures of the BJP government in the state.

    The Yatra is likely to culminate into a big rally in Lucknow drawing senior Congress leaders including Priyanka in November.

    However, reviewing the party’s poll preparedness on the third day of her current 5-day visit to UP on Thursday, the Congress general secretary participated in a meeting of the newly constituted screening committee for finalising party tickets.

    ALSO READ | 2022 UP elections: BJP to deny tickets to 150 aspirants; MLAs, poll losers in the list

    It is chaired by Congress general secretary Jitendra Singh, while party MP Deepender Singh Hooda and Maharashtra Cabinet minister Varsha Gaikwad also joined it as members on Thursday.

    The Congress is still collecting applications from those who wish to contest the polls and has sought suggestions from various units of the party, including the district committees. These suggestions were taken up in the meeting.

    Priyanka, who is chairing meetings with the state leadership, is an ex-officio member of the committee along with state Congress president Ajay Kumar Lallu, Congress Legislative Party leader Aradhna Mishra, and the party secretaries in charge of the state.

    After the meeting at Kaul house in Lucknow, Priyanka met the members of the Nishad community and heard their grievances in detail at Congress headquarters. She also held a dialogue with the party’s social media handlers.

    In the last assembly elections in 2017, Congress had fought in alliance with the Samajwadi Party (SP) and had won just seven seats with a vote share of 6.5%. However, SP had declined from 229 to 47, and BSP to just 19 from 80 seats. The BJP had romped home with a huge majority winning 312 of 403 seats.

  • UP assembly polls: Owaisi factor worry parties banking on Muslim vote bank

    By PTI

    LUCKNOW: Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM, which is going to contest next year’s Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls on the promise of creating leadership among Muslims, has created unease in the political parties that so far considered the members of the minority community as their core “vote bank”.

    Different castes, including Jatavs, Yadavs, Rajbhars and Nishads, which constitute a relatively small part of the population of Uttar Pradesh, more or less have their own leadership, but Muslims, who account for more than 19 per cent of the people in the state, do not see any united leadership.

    So the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), led by Owaisi, wants to end the “slavery” of Muslims in the hands of the Samajwadi Party (SP), the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Congress, which had been using them as their “vote bank”, according to the leaders of the party.

    There are 82 Assembly segments in the state where Muslim voters are in a position to make or mar the political fortunes of the candidates.

    Buoyed by winning five seats in last year’s Bihar polls from the Muslim-dominated Seemanchal region, which gave jitters to the RJD and the Congress, Owaisi has already announced that his party will field candidates in 100 of the 403 seats in the Uttar Pradesh election expected to be held early next year.

    The Hyderabad MP launched his poll campaign from Ayodhya earlier this month and since then, has been addressing public meetings at different places.

    AIMIM national spokesperson Syed Asim Waqar told PTI on Sunday that the main goal of the party is to create a political narative and leadership among Muslims for the progress of the community and a better future.”Even the so-called secular parties, which were getting the votes of the Muslims, never allowed a Muslim leadership to emerge.

    The report of the Sachar Committee has made out the condition in which the parties have pushed them to,” he said.

    The opinions of experts differ on whether Muslims, after the rise of Hindutva politics, have become aware enough to create their own acceptable leadership.

    The SP and the BSP have accused Owaisi of serving the interest of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) by trying to divide Muslim votes and dismissed any possibility of the AIMIM having any impact in the country’s political heartland.

    Senior SP leader Abu Azmi discarded Owaisi as a “vote-katwa” (splitter of votes) who is acting on behalf of the BJP to damage the poll prospects of the Samajwadi Party.

    State media coordinator of the Congress Lallan Kumar said Owaisi remembers Muslims only at the time of elections and claimed that the minority community has traditionally supported the grand old party.

    However, political analyst Parvez Ahmed believes that this time, the “Owaisi factor” will definitely have an impact in Uttar Pradesh.

    “The reason for this is that after the rise of hardline Hindutva politics in the country, a large section of Muslims has started to understand the importance of their separate leadership.

    The SP, the BSP and other parties that claim to be Muslim-friendly have been silent on the issues of Muslims.

    “The idea is now gaining strength among Muslims that if it they do not have a leadership of their own, the atrocities against them will only increase,” he said.

    At this juncture, Owaisi is not the target of the BJP but of those parties that have so far been trying to get the votes of Muslims on the basis of their fear of the saffron party, Ahmed said.

    He said another section of the Muslims also thinks what harm has the BJP done to them.

    “The Muzaffarnagar riots, which left a mark of fear on the minds of Muslims, took place not during the BJP’s rule but during the SP regime.

    During the regime of (Chief Minister) Yogi Adityanath, there was no such riot in which Muslims were specifically targeted.

    The share of Muslims in government jobs in the state is less than two per cent, while the Congress and other non-BJP parties ruled the state for the longest time,” Ahmed pointed out.

    According to Census 2011 data, Muslims account for 19.26 per cent of the population in Uttar Pradesh.

    Muslims constitute 50.57 per cent of the population in Rampur, 47.12 per cent in Moradabad, 43.04 per cent in Bijnor, 41.95 per cent in Saharanpur, 41.3 per cent in Muzaffarnagar, 40.

    78 per cent in Amroha and above 30 per cent in Balrampur, Azamgarh, Bareilly, Meerut, Bahraich, Gonda and Shravasti.

    According to political analyst Rasheed Kidwai, the issue of giving leadership to Muslims has come up more or less in every election in Uttar Pradesh but never took off and the Muslims often voted for the SP and the BSP.

    Owaisi’s party will contest the Uttar Pradesh polls as part of the “Bhagadari Morcha” formed by Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) president Om Prakash Rajbhar.

  • 2022 UP polls: Political parties scramble to win over Dalits through outreach programmes

    Express News Service

    LUCKNOW: Caste will play a major role in the 2022 UP assembly elections. This is manifested by the fact that players in the UP political landscape are scrambling to woo voters by organising conclaves focussed on specific castes.

    While BSP has just done with the Brahmin sammelans to revive its Brahmin-Dalit formula of social engineering through which it had come to power in 2007, both Samajwadi Party (SP) and ruling BJP are making efforts to win over Dalits by organising outreach programmes this weekend.

    While SP has announced a special 15-day programme commencing Sunday in rural areas, the BJP has planned the national executive meeting of its SC wings for two days starting Saturday in Varanasi, PM Narendra Modi’s parliamentary constituency.

    With an intent to be back in the saddle in Lucknow in 2022, the SP is holding various caste oriented outreach programmes. The party’s Brahmin outreach programme with “prabudh varg sammelans” and “Shiv sewak sammelan” is already underway. Now it is widening its campaigns through Samajwadi Lohia Vahini which has been entrusted with  organising “gaon-gaon Dalit samwad (Dalit discourse across villages).” The campaign would conclude on December 5, said the party’s official spokesman Rajendra Chaudhury.

    “The intent is to expose BJP government’s anti-people, anti-farmer, anti-Dalit, anti-backward, anti-reservation policies and to take the socialist ideology, actions and policies forward among the people,” SP spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary said.

    Lohia Vahini state president Ram Karan Nirmal will take charge of the programme to be held in Kanpur, Auraiya, Kannauj, Farrukhabad, Mainpuri, Etawah, Firozabad, Agra and Mathura.

    ALSO READ | Beware of BJP’s ‘e-Ravans’ on social media who’ll spread lies ahead of UP polls: Akhilesh to SP workers

    According to Chaudhary, the seven-phase programme will start from Allahabad, and its last phase will be in Lucknow on December 5.

    The ruling saffron brigade’s  national executive meeting of its SC wings was inaugurated by party national president JP Nadda through a video link. The meeting will conclude on Sunday in the presence of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in Varanasi.

    According to a senior BJP leader, the discussion in the meeting would focus on the achievements of the state government and various schemes introduced for those belonging to the Scheduled Caste.

    Calling it a routine meeting held every three months, the BJP leader claimed that the party would go among the SCs to make them aware of the schemes meant for them and at the same time put the problems faced by them on the party table.

    The BJP sources claimed that the occasion would be used to strategise the upcoming election in five states and the guidelines will be issued for the same in the meeting.

    The prominent among the possible participants of the two-day confabulations include BJP General Secretary CT Ravi, MP Vinod Sarkar, party’s SC wing president Lal Singh Arya, minister Virendra Singh, 70 state executive general secretaries, national secretary presidents of the states’ SC wing and other MPs and ministers.

  • 2022 UP polls: Yogi govt withdraws 900 cases against farmers for stubble burning

    Express News Service

    LUCKNOW: In a bid to pacify the farmers’ unrest ahead of the upcoming UP Assembly elections, the Yogi Aditynath government in Uttar Pradesh has decided to withdraw around 900 cases registered against farmers for causing air pollution by burning stubble.

    The Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Avanish Awasthi has issued orders in this regard after CM Adityanath announced the decision of the state government in this connection.

    Farmers play an important role in the economy and development of the state. Therefore, the state government has decided to withdraw 868 cases lodged against farmers for stubble burning, a statement issued by Awasthi said.

    Awasthi added that the state government had ordered to withdraw the cases of stubble burning registered in different districts to safeguard the interests of the farmers who had suffered financially during the corona epidemic. The accused farmers were booked under IPC and sections 188, 278, 290, and 291 of 1860 in the state.

    In the past, the CM had assured farmers that the cases registered against them for burning stubble would be withdrawn. Also, if any fine has been imposed, it will also be waived off. Not only this, CM had also assured to consider the matter of increasing the support price of sugarcane.

  • ‘Only time will tell which party has lost existence in UP’: Priyanka Gandhi takes a dig at BJP

    Express News Service

    LUCKNOW: While the chairman of Congress Pradesh Election Committee (PEC) Salman Khurshid reiterated a well-known fact that Congress would contest upcoming 2022 UP polls under the leadership of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, the AICC general secretary herself challenged the ruling BJP saying that only time would tell which party — Congress or the BJP — had lost existence in countries politically most crucial state.

    Priyanka, who is touring Raebareli, her mother Sonia Gandhi’s parliamentary constituency and the lost bastion of Amethi, was responding to UP deputy CM Keshav Maurya’s claim that state had got rid of Congress.

    Priyanka, who has been in Uttar Pradesh since September 10, reviewed the Congress party’s organizational readiness and its strategy for the assembly election early next year. She said that preparations for the high-octane polls were in full swing.

    ALSO READ | Political parties throw enough hints Uttar Pradesh polls will pivot around Ayodhya

    Meanwhile, making it clear that Congress would not stitch an alliance and that the party would go it alone in UP polls, PEC chairman and former Union minister Salman Khurshid said that the Congress had not decided on its chief ministerial candidate yet but it would field candidates for all 403 assembly seats in UP.

    Khurshid, who was in Agra to gather people’s feedback for the party manifesto, stressed that it would include voices of the common people by visiting assembly constituencies to get a sense of the problems being faced by the locals.

    “This would make people happy and they can say that this manifesto is their own,” said the Congress leader.

    “We have visited other districts such as Ayodhya, Jhansi, Gorakhpur, etc and on Sunday in Agra, interacted with the natives of Tora village. People complained about several issues such as pension for widows and old people,” Salman Khurshid said.