UP poll campaign likely to gather speed from Feb 1

The Election Commission of India (ECI) is likely to announce permission for public meetings with certain restrictions after January 31.

LUCKNOW: Campaigning in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh is likely to rev up from February 1 onwards, ahead of the first phase polling in 58 constituencies in 11 UP districts scheduled on February 10.

Uttar Pradesh is going to polls for its 403 assembly seats from February 10 in seven phases with March 10 as the result date. (File Photo/AFP)

The Election Commission of India (ECI) is likely to announce permission for public meetings with certain restrictions after January 31. Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) national president Mayawati has become the first to announce her party’s poll campaign launch from Agra through a public meeting on February 2.

The campaigning visibly changed after the election notification on January 8. All parties went off the streets no sooner than the model code of conduct (MCC) and Covid-19 safety protocols by the Election Commission of India (ECI) came into force, banning rallies, public meetings and road-shows, first till January 15 and then till January 31.

When it came to resurfacing, the resource-rich, personality-rich Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) hit the streets first from January 21 onwards with door-to-door campaigning by several top saffron party leaders. The top leaders of other parties that withdrew are now planning a re-launch of their campaigns.

The star campaigners of the ruling BJP--national and state leaders--have hit the streets in 11 western UP districts with national president JP Nadda launching a door-to-door campaign from Agra and Bareilly on January 21. The next day Union home minister Amit Shah, chief minister Yogi Adityanath, Union minister Anurag Thakur, deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya and a few others followed suit.

Almost all the rival parties raised a red flag to the ECI complaining about the BJP leaders’ campaigns, saying that they were in contravention of the model code of conduct and Covid-19 protocols issued by the ECI.

The Samajwadi Party (SP) star campaigners withdrew their campaigns after the January 14 event at the SP state headquarters in which ex-BJP minister Swami Prasad Maurya and Dharam Singh Saini joined the party. The Lucknow police filed an FIR and the ECI issued a notice to the SP over the event.

“Our national president Akhilesh Yadav Ji and the heads of all the allies were doing intensive campaigning. Akhilesh Ji’s Vijay Rath Yatra was so successful that it became a talking point all over. But the SP and ally leaders withdrew from the campaign scene following the ECI’s MCC and Covid guidelines. Also, in the meantime, Akhilesh Ji had been busy strategising in the war room. The campaign would resume as and when ECI allows”, said SP national spokesperson Abdul Hafiz Gandhi.

SP chief Akhilesh Yadav said at a press conference last week: “I am waiting for the ECI. My rath yatra will resume, once permitted, even if it means me riding the rath alone”.

Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) national spokesperson, Anupam Mishra said: “ RLD chief Jayant Chaudhary, tentatively, is launching his election campaign from Muzaffarangar on January 27. The party will release the programme once finalised”.

The Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) national spokesperson Piyush Mishra said: “Our president Omprakash Rajbhar ji was intensively busy in campaigning solo and also with the alliance chief Akhilesh ji, but withdrew post-notification. Now, he will be back in action leading the party’s ‘Ghera dalo, dera dalo; gaon chalo abhiyaan’--a village to village campaign programme.”

Om Prakash Rajbhar, Mahan Dal chief Keshav Dev Maurya, Apna Dal (Krishna Patel) chief Krishna Patel and ex-BJP minister and now SP leader Swami Prasad Maurya, who were doing the SP’s virtual rallies, will soon hit the roads again.

The Congress, however, is asking the political parties and ECI to exercise caution. Congress spokesperson Anshu Awasthi said: “If actual campaigning is allowed once again, then once again our leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra ji and other star campaigners (the list is already out) will hit the roads. Priyanka ji had campaigned statewide as no single leader did. But the Congress would make an appeal to the ECI to exercise caution. Covid is very much there and rising.”

UP is going to polls for its 403 assembly seats from February 10 in seven phases with March 10 as the result date.