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UP Lok Sabha by-polls: BJP hopes to make inroads into SP strongholds
SP won the seats even when the BJP swept the national polls in 2019 in Uttar Pradesh by winning 62 of the 80 seats
In the middle of the campaigning for the June 23 Azamgarh and Rampur Lok Sabha by-polls, Uttar Pradesh minister AK Sharma reiterated what he said during the assembly polls earlier this year. “BJP [Bharatiya Janata Party] governments under Prime Minister Narendra Modi and chief minister Yogi Adityanath will be formed whether you vote [for us] or not,” he said in Azamgarh. “As I consider this my home where one can talk freely, I am saying something more bluntly. If [BJP’s nominee from Azamgarh Dinesh Lal Yadav] Nirahua loses, will it make any difference to Modi or Yogi? No, right?” Sharma asked as he underlined a vote for BJP would mean development.
Sharma captured the essence of the BJP’s campaign for the by-polls for the two seats, which have been Samajwadi Party (SP)’s strongholds. SP won the seats even when the BJP swept the national polls in 2019 in Uttar Pradesh by winning 62 of the 80 seats. In the assembly polls, SP won all 10 assembly seats in Azamgarh
Muslims and Yadavs, SP’s core supporters, account for a bulk of voters in Azamgarh, where Sharma projected the BJP as the “only alternative” echoing what he repeatedly said during the assembly polls. The BJP successfully countered the SP’s formidable challenge in the assembly polls by banking on Modi and Adityanath. The two were the mainstays of the BJP’s assembly poll campaign.
Modi did not campaign for the by-polls. Yogi campaigned in both constituencies. His ministers addressed meetings, distributed pamphlets and made door-to-door visits as the BJP hopes to make inroads into the SP strongholds.
Deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya said the by-poll results would not matter much. “But if you vote for the BJP, you will usher in development as well as set the tone for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls...we will help Modi by getting the BJP over 75 Lok Sabha seats from Uttar Pradesh.”
In 2019, SP leaders Akhilesh Yadav and Azam Khan won the Azamgarh and Rampur seats. The BJP won the Rampur Lok Sabha seat in 2014. “We lost the seat in 2019 by about 100,000 votes because of an SP-BSP [Bahujan Samaj Party] tie-up, which is not there anymore... we can win the seat,” Maurya said.
SP has fielded Asim Raja from Rampur and Ghanshyam Lodhi is the BJP’s candidate. The BSP is not contesting the Rampur seat. Congress has opted out of both the seats. In Azamgarh, SP has fielded Dharmendra Yadav, who lost the 2019 Lok Sabha polls from Badaun. He is up against Bhojpuri singer and actor Nirahua, who lost the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
Both Nirahua and Dharmendra face the “outsider” tag, which BSP candidate Guddu Jamali is banking on. Jamali hopes to get the Muslim support while the BJP that of the Yadavs.
To retain its support among Muslims, the SP deputed Azam Khan, who is out on bail after spending 27 months in jail, to campaign in Azamgarh.
Lucknow University political science professor Manuka Khanna said the by-polls are about pride and prestige. “SP needs to retain its strongholds...After winning just one seat in the assembly polls, the BSP, too, needs to do well.”
