The entry of new parties in Gujarat in the coming assembly elections could divide the secular votes in the state.
AHMEDABAD: The entry of new parties in Gujarat in the coming assembly elections could divide the secular votes in the state.
Parties like Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Lok Janshakti Party (LJP), left parties and New Socialist Movement have declared that they will independently fight the assembly elections in the state scheduled by the year-end.
The elections are expected to be a tough fight between Chief Minister Narendra Modi and his main opponent Congress aided by rebels within the BJP.
The BSP, which has a good hold over voters belonging to Dalit and minority communities in Uttar Pradesh where it has won an impressive mandate a few months ago, plans to contest all the 182 assembly seats in Gujarat. The BSP is also wooing upper caste voters in a big way.
The LJP, which is also targeting voters belonging to backward classes and minorities, plans to fight a large number of seats independently.
"The fielding of 182 contestants by the BSP will definitely harm the Congress' political interests more than it will of any other party. We want to make a mark in the state politics from this election onwards," newly-appointed BSP Gujarat unit General Secretary Nalin Bhatt said.
"We are also focusing on voters belonging to the upper castes and if they decide to side with us, then it could dent the BJP's voter base," Bhatt, who joined the BSP after his suspension from the BJP, said.
LJP leader Ram Vilas Paswan has also accepted that there will be division of secular votes. "But our party workers have done hard work for five years and they have the right to fight elections independently," Paswan had said during his visit to Gujarat last month.
The decision of New Socialist Movement, founded by human rights activists and advocate Mukul Sinha, to contest from some of the minority-dominated seats in the state, will also result in division of secular votes.
In the last assembly elections, candidates of Nationalist Congress party (NCP), Samajwadi Party and BSP had affected the chances of Congress candidates in more than 15 seats, statistics of the 2002 elections revealed.
This time, however, the NCP may fight the elections jointly with the Congress and the two are likely to have a pre-poll agreement, according to NCP state unit President Jayant Patel.
Opposition Congress Leader in the Assembly Arjun Modhvadia said the division of secular votes in effect meant that it was a loss, either way big or small, to Congress only.
This is because all the votes that are polled by these parties actually are Congress votes, he said.
However, there was no real cause for worry because the Congress did not have a base in Gujarat in the first place, he said.
The BJP on the other hand is of the opinion that the decision of these parties to contest a large number of seats independently or jointly will not affect it at all. "Our vote base is very large and will remain unaffected," party General Secretary Vijay Rupani said.
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