8-0 in 2014: The SP-BSP big test today in Western Uttar Pradesh
New Delhi, Apr 11: The combined might of the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) is being put to test today as India votes in the first phase of the Lok Sabha elections.
There are nearly 15 million people across 8 constituencies in Western Uttar Pradesh who are voting in the first phase today. The constituencies that will be polling today are Sahranpur, Kairana, Muzzafarnagar, Bijnor, Meerut, Ghaziabad, Baghpat and Gautam Buddh Nagar.
In the 2014 elections there was a four corner fight in these constituencies and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) emerged victorious in all. This time around the BSP and SP are not on opposite sides. Instead they stitched up an alliance and are fighting the elections together.
Lok Sabha pols preparations: 18,000 security personnel deployed in Ghaziabad
The
parties
before
allying
with
each
other,
tested
their
strength
by
coming
together
for
the
Gorakhpur,
Phulpur
and
Kairana
by-elections.
They
managed
to
defeat
the
BJP,
following
which
it
was
decided
that
they
would
go
together
in
the
2019
polls
as
well.
The
8
seats
have
a
significant
population
of
Dalits.
This
would
in
fact
put
the
caste
arithmetic
of
the
SP-BSP-RLD
to
test.
Further today would also witness a contest involving three union ministers- V K Singh, Satyapal Singh and Mahesh Sharma. The other interesting battle to watch out for would be the one between RLD chief, Ajit Singh and BJP MP Sanjeev Balyan at Muzzafarnagar, which is a communally charged constituency.
In 2014, the BJP alone had won 71 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in the state. It went on to put up an impressive performance in the UP assembly polls in which it won 325 of the 403 seats. This had in fact made it necessary for the SP and BSP to come together. The combine is eyeing for the MYD (Muslim-Yadav-Dalit) votes and feels that if this combination works, it would stall the BJP in a big way in the all important kingmaker state of Uttar Pradesh.