Mayawati, Owaisi may dent victory chances of Akhilesh

Lucknow, Feb 22: Uttar Pradesh is witnessing a multi-layered assembly election in which the Samajwadi Party (SP) is being seen as the principal challenger to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati is supposedly “silent”, the Congress is fighting for existence, and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi’s party is eyeing to emerge as a new choice for Muslim voters.

The fight that Mayawati’s BSP and Owaisi’s All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM) are offering in certain constituencies makes the UP polls multicornered. Both parties bank on social engineering for electoral success.

The BSP draws political power from its Dalit vote bank and experiments by fielding candidates from other social groups fancying its chances. The AIMIM sees Muslim voters as its core constituency even as it tries to strike a chord with Dalits Bhim-Meem unity.

In Uttar Pradesh, Mayawati went solo in the assembly election. She has attempted to cobble up a new caste combination of DalitMuslim-Brahmin while reaching out to Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in the Uttar Pradesh election. She has countered the charge of being “silent” to help the BJP with the claim of a “surprise result” in a repeat of 2007. Her party had won the majority in 2007 with much-debated DalitBrahmin social engineering.

Crowds in Owaisi rallies worry SP

The talk of the Owaisi factor in an assembly election that his AIMIM contests has become a norm. Though the AIMIM has limited success in elections, Owaisi draws big crowds at his rallies. Uttar Pradesh, where the AIMIM is contesting around 100 seats, also saw Owaisi creating a buzz.

In Uttar Pradesh, Owaisi has gone for his Bihar formula of allying with castebased smaller parties and declaring a CM candidate. Owaisi has fielded at least eight Hindu candidates while focusing on Muslim voters in the UP polls.

Owaisi’s nominees are likely to impact western Uttar Pradesh, where more than 35 constituencies have over 30 per cent Muslim voters. In nine constituencies, Muslims make up more than 50 per cent of voters.

Congress too a force
The Congress has fielded more than 60 Muslim candidates in the Uttar Pradesh election, in which the party is fighting on its own.

In 2017, the Congress was a junior partner of the Samajwadi Party and finished with seven seats. Later, it saw its MLAs joining the BJP. Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has led the party’s campaign in UP polls while maintaining that her efforts may not bring it to power in 2022 but prepare the ground for the 2024  Lok Sabha election and 2027 assembly polls.

The Congress is likely to poll more votes than it did in 2017 as it is contesting 402 seats compared to 144 five years ago. But the more votes Priyanka Gandhi pulls towards the Congress, the more difficult it would become for Akhilesh Yadav, given that both have been focusing on backward and Dalit communities. Priyanka Gandhi has also attempted to carve out a women’s constituency.