Lucknow. The past electoral scene has been changing by wave, but the faith of Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party, which have been winning the race in Uttar Pradesh through caste stakes, still rests on this formula. Undoubtedly, even the strategists of the Bharatiya Janata Party did not lag behind in setting up caste groups, but the BSP and SP have very simple maths. If the share of Muslim vote with their respective caste vote bank is to be equal, then they want to change this equation with the bonus vote of Brahmins. BSP supremo Mayawati, who won power in 2007 from the Dalit-Muslim-Brahmin alliance, especially wants to play the stake of social engineering with full force in the 2022 assembly elections.
In fact, after losing power in the year 2012, the BSP’s support base continued to slip in the assembly and Lok Sabha elections held till now. In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the party was reduced to zero. With the increasing influence of the BJP, it was the result of the party’s declining strength that in the last Lok Sabha elections, Mayawati did not hesitate to form an alliance with her arch rival Samajwadi Party. The party got ten Lok Sabha seats from the alliance, but the party’s condition did not seem to improve. In such a situation, Mayawati decided to break the alliance and enter the assembly elections alone.
Since the party was able to form a majority government in 2007 by integrating Dalits as well as Muslim and Brahmin community at large, the BSP chief is leaving no stone unturned to once again grab power with the same social engineering. . However, in a decade and a half, major changes have taken place in the politics of the state. The BJP, which was on the margins earlier, managed to break into the vote bank of backward and Dalits including Brahmins in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, due to which the BJP’s graph continued to grow. In the last assembly elections, the BJP along with its allies managed to win a record 325 seats.
For some time in Uttar Pradesh, the BSP along with the SP is again eyeing the vote bank of the society due to the discussion of the Brahmin community being angry with the BJP. Although the BJP is making all efforts to remove the displeasure of the Brahmin society, but at present it does not seem to be getting the support of Brahmins as before. In such a situation, SP and BSP are getting the idol of Parashuram installed along with the conventions to make their inroads in the Brahmin society.
Mayawati and party general secretary Satish Mishra feel that Brahmins will come only with BSP. Although it seems that Muslim society will remain with SP, but BSP is preparing to give more tickets to Muslim society this time. In such a situation, if the Muslim society also joins the BSP, then the way to power can be easy for them. However, the way small parties are also seen to be active regarding the Muslim vote bank, it can divide Muslim votes, which is sure to benefit the BJP as before.
Influence of 14 percent Brahmins on 103 seats: The Brahmin society has always dominated the politics of Uttar Pradesh. About 14 percent of the total population of the state is considered to be of Brahmin community. The influence of Brahmin society is said to be on 103 out of 403 assembly seats. Of these, 47 seats are such, on which more than 25 percent of the Brahmin community’s vote is there. Lucknow, Varanasi, Chandauli, Bahraich, Rae Bareli, Amethi, Unnao, Shahjahanpur, Sitapur, Kanpur, Sultanpur, Bhadohi, Jaunpur, Mirzapur, Prayagraj, Ambedkar Nagar, Gonda, Balrampur, Sant Kabirnagar, Maharajganj, Gorakhpur, Deoria, Basti, Shravasti etc districts Most of the seats are Brahmin dominated.
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