Electoral gladiators will try to storm the first of the seven gates of UP elections on Wednesday. As many as 1.70crore voters will vote to decide the fate of 867 candidates vying for 55 seats spread over 10 districts of central and eastern UP.
But it is the prestige of the ruling BSP which is at maximum stake in this region as it holds the maximum number of seats (30).
Its arch rival, the Samajwadi Party (SP) is posing a stiff challenge and is out to reap the maximum benefit of the anti-incumbency factor.
The SP had won 18 seats here in the 2007 Assembly election, and is thus the most significant contender in this region. Another reason for the SP mounting a tough challenge against the BSP here is that this area is dominated by OBCs among whom the SP chief and Yadav chieftain Mulayam Singh Yadav has traditionally held sway.
The BJP, with just four seats in its kitty, is on the sidelines even though Ayodhya, virtually the emblem of the saffron brigade’s Hindutva chant, is part of this region. Though the BJP has been winning the Ayodhya seat in all the five elections since 1991, its influence has not spread to the entire region. In fact, after a gap of two decades, the Congress party managed to win the Faizabad Lok Sabha seat, which is cheek by jowl with Ayodhya.
The Congress had won only three of these 55 seats in the 2007 Assembly poll. With such a thin presence, the Faizabad victory of Nirmal Khatri in the 2009 Parliamentary poll was indeed a huge surprise even for the Congress party.
The Congress party has attached special importance to this area as nine of its MPs won from here in 2009. Especially at stake is the prestige of Union steel minister and Gonda MP Beni Prasad Verma whose son is a candidate from Dariyabad in Barabanki district.
Interestingly, Congress president Sonia Gandhi had also begun her election campaign for “UP mission 2012” from Gonda.
Another prominent face in this swathe of 10 districts east of Lucknow is Barabanki MP PL Punia, who is chairman of the Scheduled Caste Commission of India. Former UP Congress president Jagdambika Pal is also MP from this region and his son is contesting the election, too.
The BJP has tried to focus its campaign around Ayodhya. The two ‘rath yatras’ taken out by senior party leaders Kalraj Mishra and Rajnath Singh before the elections had culminated at Ayodhya where the entire top brass of the BJP had gathered to chant the ‘mandir’ tune.
The first phase of poll is crucial for the BSP president Mayawati, too, as Ambedkar Nagar is part of this region. Ambedkar Nagar has been an important part of Mayawati’s political career, and she has been MLA and MP from here.
This time around, it might be an uphill task for the BSP to score in this region as the Dalit icon has dropped about half-a-dozen ministers and denied tickets to over a dozen party MLAs from this area, marking them off as tainted.
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