Uttar Pradesh polls: Smaller parties try to play big

With their hold over numerically significant castes, several smaller parties in Uttar Pradesh are in the limelight this time ahead of the crucial assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh.
As past trends in UP indicate, a party needs the support of more than two dominant castes communities -the full support of two and a section of the third -to win an election. The BJP has been working on Hindu consolidation to upset the caste formulae of SP and the BSP. Some caste-centric parties add heft to the bigger parties on each side, as even a few thousand votes can make or mar chances of candidates.

Here is a look at the various formulations that could play a crucial role in the battle for Lucknow.

A case for proper count
Castes like Sahus, Kashyaps, Sainis, Kushwahas, Mauryas, Shakyas, Pals, Dhangars, Gaderiyas, Kumhars, Nishads, and Mallas are much in "demand". In 2017, the BJP had expanded its reach among non-Yadav Other Backward Castes (OBCs), by allying with Om Prakash Rajbhar's Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP) and later the Nishad Party. The SBSP left the Yogi Adityanath cabinet and the alliance after 2019, and has now tied up with the Samajwadi party.

The Brahmin votes
Brahmins, who constitute over 10 per cent of the vote share in Uttar Pradesh, became the focus of attention of all the parties just ahead of the elections. The BJP, the SP and the BSP held meetings of the community. There was also a search for Brahmin icons to hold up. The BJP CM observed the birth anniversary of former chief minister Govind Ballabh Pant, who was from the Congress.

Caste census and the battle for Lucknow
The demand for a caste census was raised by former UP chief minister and Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav. It found an echo from arch-rival Mayawati of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), as well as the BJP’s own coalition allies Apna Dal and Nishad Party.

Kurmi Community & Nishad Party
The Nishad Party has a considerable following among the 'nishad' (fishermen) community members, who are in sizeable numbers in around six Lok Sabha constituencies in the state, the Apna Dal (S) of Anupriya Patel has influence among the OBC Kurmi community.

In 2018, the SP had fielded Sanjay Nishad's son Praveen as its candidate from the Gorakhpur Lok Sabha seat and stunned the BJP in bypolls after Yogi Adityanath, a five-term MP from the seat, vacated it on becoming an MLC in keeping with the constitutional obligation after being named the chief minister.

Subsequently, the BJP won the Nishad party over to its side in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, fielding Praveen Nishad on its symbol from Sant Kabir Nagar. He won and is currently a BJP MP.

The BJP has announced that both the Nishad Party and Apna Dal ( S) are part of its alliance this time.

The Rajbhars
The Rajbhars constitute a significant part of the Purvanchal population and are regarded as the second-most politically dominant community after the Yadavs in eastern UP.

Rajbhar initially formed the Bhagadari Sankalp Morcha with AIMIM of Asaduddin Owaisi, but later joined hands with the SP. Owaisi was left in the cold, with a potential to cut into Muslim votes in some seats.

In the 2012 assembly polls, over 200 registered parties had fielded their candidates, while in 2017 as many as 290 parties had jumped into the electoral battle in the country's most populous state.

The Samajwadi Party also has Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), Mahan Dal and Janwadi Socialist party and some other smaller parties by its side.

The Mahan Dal, which has a support base among the Shakya, Saini, Maurya and Kushwaha communities, is expected to bring in votes of some of the most backward castes that constitute about 14 per cent of the overall OBC category, which itself makes for an estimated 40 per cent of the state's population.

The Janwadi Socialist party of Sanjay Singh Chauhan also draws strength from members of the Bind and Kashyap communities that are in sizable numbers in over a dozen districts.

The Mahan Dal, Janwadi Socialist Party, and Shivpal Yadav's Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia) have all joined hands with Akhilesh Yadav. Chandra Shekhar Azad's Azad Samaj Party (Kanshiram) initially looked like allying with the SP, but then it didn't work out.

The caste-based outfits hope the campaign launched by RSS-BJP combine to unite the backward castes under the larger framework of Hindutva will receive a setback, and that they have a larger say in power.

Many people see the UP assembly elections as a semifinal for the Narendra Modi government before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The question is : can the BJP break a 35-year-old jinx and come back to power again for a second successive term.