In the upcoming civic elections in Uttar Pradesh, upper caste voters are set to dominate as they make up more than 50 per cent of the electorate in all 17 municipal corporations while Muslims voters are expected to be game changer.
This is evident from the fact that all political parties are vying for the attention of Muslims. Even the Bharatiya Janata Party, considered to be a pro-Hindu party, has for the first time fielded 367 Muslim candidates, including councilors in municipal corporations and candidates for the post of chairperson in nagar panchayats. The party has given tickets to Muslims for the post of councilor in four wards of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's parliamentary constituency, Varanasi, and even in Yogi Adityanath's constituency Gorakhpur.
The Bahujan Samaj Party has given 64 per cent tickets to Muslims and Samajwadi Party has fielded 23 per cent Muslim candidates, which is lower than previous election. The SP has fielded Muslims as mayoral candidates in four municipal corporations. Mashroof Fatima has been given ticket for Firozabad seat, Noor Hasan for Saharanpur, former MLA Zameer Ullah Khan for Aligarh and Syed Raisuddin for Moradabad mayoral seats. The results of these elections will be closely watched by political observers as it could have an impact on the national political scene.
With a total of 4.32 crore voters, the urban local bodies elections in UP cover about 150 assembly seats, making it a crucial battleground for political parties. The importance of civic elections in UP can be gauged from the fact that Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has been holding public meetings for the last six days. Deputy Chief Ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak, all ministers, MLAs and MPs are also actively taking part in civic poll campaigning.
The BJP’s prestige is at stake as urban areas have always been its bastions. The party is focusing on women voters, as 37 per cent of the seats are reserved for them. The BJP has also put its Mahila Morcha on the ground and is organising 'sahbhoj' for women, specially inviting Muslim and Dalit women to connect them with the party.
The toughest challenge for BJP is in the municipality and town panchayat seats, where 20 per cent of the seats are Muslim dominated. “The party is looking for a new formula to win these seats, with a special focus on Pasmanda Muslims,” BJP state vice-president Vijay Bahadur Pathak said.
In Uttar Pradesh, elections are being held for 14,684 posts of municipal bodies, which include 17 mayors, 200 municipality chairpersons, 545 city panchayat chairpersons and 1,420 councilors.
The SP is all set to give a tough fight to the BJP in these elections. Ahead of the civic elections, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao have met SP president Akhilesh Yadav, indicating the growing importance of the party in national politics.
“This election is crucial for Akhilesh Yadav too as his stature in Delhi politics will be determined by the results of these elections,” said Nomita P Kumar of Giri Institute of Development Studies (GIDS).
In the last civic elections, the SP did not win any mayor seat but was successful in winning the elections for the posts of nagar palika and nagar panchayat chairpersons. This time Akhilesh Yadav is working on the formula of Muslim-Yadav and Dalit (MYD) by stitching a new social combination. He recently visited Mhow, the birthplace of Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar. During the Ramcharitmanas controversy, Yadav even called himself a “shudra”.
