Even as the process of filing of nomination papers for the first two phases of Lok Sabha polls in Uttar Pradesh is over, the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance is yet to kick off its election campaign in the state.
Samajwadi Party and Congress are major partners of the INDIA bloc in UP.
As per consensus on seat sharing reached between the two parties, SP will contest 63 Lok Sabha seats and Congress 17 seats in UP. Congress has so far announced candidates for 14 seats while the SP has announced 46 candidates so far.
The Election Commission of India had announced the schedule of the 7-phase Lok Sabha polls on March 16. The notification for the first phase polls on eight seats was issued on March 20 and the last date for filing nomination papers was March 28. The notification for the second phase polls in eight constituencies was issued on March 28 and the last date for filing papers was April 4. The polling for the first phase is scheduled on April 19 and for the second phase on April 26.
“The process is underway and the campaign plan is under preparation. The detailed plan will be announced shortly,” said Congress spokesman Anshu Awasthi,
SP spokesman Rajendra Chaudhary said, “As soon as the candidates for all the seats are finalised, party president Akhilesh Yadav will embark on an election campaign from western UP.”
The SP and the Congress had finalised the sharing of seats in UP over a month ago and announced it on February 21.
Even as the toughest stretch of the Lok Sabha polls awaits SP and Congress, the leaders of both parties say there are no instructions yet from the top on implementing the agreement and there is no clear word about the distribution of work.
Sources in the SP said the next obvious task for both the parties was ensuring coordination on the ground for the campaign and transfer of votes to each party to the other during polling.
Candidates from both parties are carrying out these exercises to meet the challenge of bringing their cadre together on one platform and ensuring they gel with each other to avoid any confusion or embarrassment as had prevailed in 2017 UP assembly elections when the top leadership of SP and Congress had forged an alliance but their local units shunned each other. That eventually resulted in both parties fielding candidates against each other in several constituencies.
However, in the absence of guidelines from their leadership, some confusion remains.
“There is confusion about the distribution of work. We do not know what responsibilities the Congress cadre will have to bear here, whether our workers will have to work as booth-level agents or not. Our party has asked our district president and Lok Sabha coordinators to appoint booth presidents but we do not know what their tasks will be, or how they will coordinate with SP leaders. Here, we are dependent on the plans of the SP and its candidate,” said a Congress leader in Ambedkar Nagar, where SP’s Lalji Verma is the INDIA bloc candidate.
Contrary to disarray in opposition, the election campaign by the Bharatiya Janata Party is in full swing in UP. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh have started campaigning for the BJP and its allies. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has so far addressed ‘Prabuddha Sammelans’ in close to two dozen districts where Lok Sabha polls will be held in first, second and third phases of election. The UP chief minister has also campaigned in Saharanpur, Pilibhit and Mathura.
On April 6, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to address rallies in Saharanpur and Kairana and also hold a roadshow in Ghaziabad. The BJP is looking to register its “best ever” performance in UP this election.
“We will witness our best performance to date in Uttar Pradesh and will get more seats than in 2014,” said BJP spokesman Rakesh Tripathi.
On April 9, the prime minister will address an election meeting in Pilibhit.
On April 3, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed a digital NaMo rally through the NaMo app at all 22,648 booths of 10 Lok Sabha seats going to the polls in the third phase in Uttar Pradesh.
