The campaign ended on Monday evening for the 67 constituencies of western Uttar Pradesh, where voting will be held on Wednesday. The districts going to the polls in this phase include Saharanpur, Bijnor, Moradabad, Sambhal, Rampur, Bareilly, Amroha, Pilibhit, Kheri, Shahjahanpur and Badaun.
This phase would be a test of the minority outreach of the Congress-Samajwadi Party alliance and the Bahujan Samaj Party as the Muslim population in seven of these districts comes to more than 30%.
While Rampur and Moradabad have more than 50%, the Muslim population in Bijnore and Amroha crosses 40%.
This phase will be crucial for BSP leader Mayawati who tried to experiment yet again with a Dalit-Muslim combination by fielding the largest number of Muslim candidates, while being assured of getting the consolidated Jatav votes for the party.
Mayawati’s gambit
A major thrust of Ms. Mayawati’s campaign, besides highlighting the SP’s “failure to maintain law and order and allow thousands of communal riots in the State”, is that only she can “prevent the BJP from coming to power in the State”. She has repeatedly stressed that division of minority votes between the BSP and the SP could benefit only the BJP.
The last day of the campaigning saw Prime Minister Narendra Modi attacking Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav over the issue of law and order and women’s safety, at a mammoth rally in Lakhimpur Kheri.
Throughout his speeches during his rallies in SP strongholds such as Bijnor, Badaun and Lakhimpur Kheri, Mr. Modi spoke about the “deteriorating law and order” situation in the State, the infamous Badaun gang-rape case and the alleged political patronage to criminals.
Modi takes on CM
In Badaun, for instance, Mr. Modi said that Mr. Yadav had shown only bure din (bad days) to the State. He said that the Chief Minister blew his trumpet with the slogan Kaam bolta hai (work speaks), but actually it was not his actions but the “goonda raj” that spoke louder.
He repeatedly alleged during all the three rallies, which attracted huge crowds, that “Akhilesh allied with the Congress only to hide his failures and incompetence”.
In the previous Assembly elections in western Uttar Pradesh, the Samajwadi Party had won 34 seats, followed by the BSP (18), BJP (10) and the Congress (3).
The SP-Congress alliance has projected the “ vikas (development)” aspect of the Akhilesh Yadav government and highlighted the negatives and ill-effects of demonetisation and the troubles it has given to the common public.
The alliance has tried to woo Muslim voters by repeatedly projecting itself as the only political formation which can stop the BJP. The alliance saw display of interesting political camaraderie between Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and SP’s chief Akhilesh Yadav.
It would also test Congress trust over Imran Masood, the controversial politician who holds sway in Saharanpur and its vicinity and whom the party gave free hand in ticket distribution. Imran is contesting from Nakur Assembly seat in Saharanpur.
