It is widely known that elections in UP always hold a big impact on Indian politics. That is why from news channels to social media, everybody is trying their best to figure out the political situation in Uttar Pradesh. Few are busy in conducting opinion polls.
Uttar Pradesh has a huge political importance because it holds 85 Lok Sabha seats. BJP bagged 72 out of these 80 seats in 2014 general election which helped them cross majority but state elections is a different matter. We can say that Modi is still a popular leader but after note ban, rural part of the state was hit badly. In state election, BJP has not announced any Chief Ministerial candidate and is still busy finalising candidates for all seats.
Meanwhile, Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party has a huge advantage since he is the current Chief Minister. Samajwadi party depends mainly on Yadav-Muslim voters. With the party focused on its developmental work and Akhilesh Yadav as chief minister with a clean record, their chances are strong. With the help of Akhilesh, they are focusing on youth voters also.
Congress party started its state election strategy long back by appointing Prashant Kishor as a political strategist. From Rahul Gandhi’s Kisan Yatra to announcing Shiela Dixit as CM candidate, PK is trying his best to make sure that Congress will share power in the state assembly. This election, Congress is trying to attract its traditional Brahmin voters which share 16% of votes by announcing a Brahmin CM candidate. After that, Congress also tried to build Grand alliance with SP+RLD (Rashtriya Lok Dal), which is dominant in western Uttar Pradesh and always backed by the Jat community in this region. After the Muzaffarnagar riots, SP fears its alliance with RLD might give the wrong message to its Muslim voters.
Another strong party of Uttar Pradesh – BSP is way ahead of its competitors by all means. BSP supremo Mayawati has already announced all the party candidates for all assembly seats. Apart from Dalits and Muslims, Mayawati is also trying to get Brahmin voters with BSP as 2007. If Mayawati’s key aide Satish Chandra Mishra is successful in attracting Brahmin votes with BSP as he did in 2007, it would be an advantage for BSP.