LUCKNOW: Usually disinclined to contest the by-polls, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), has decided to go it full throttle in the upcoming battle for 10 assembly segments giving it a triangular shape realising well that it is more of a battle of existence for it in Uttar Pradesh where it has just one MLA who is also indisposed and is convalescing in the US for quite some time.The BSP will be seen in the upcoming by-polls to 10 assembly seats, which had fallen vacant due to the victory of sitting MLAs in the recently concluded Lok Sabha election, after almost a decade and a half.It had contested the last bypoll in 2010, when it had defeated the BJP in the Dumariyaganj seat of Siddharthnagar by a margin of 15,000 votes. After that, Mayawati never fielded a party candidate in a bypoll held even in her regime.Taking a lead over her rivals – BJP and Samajwadi Party – in the preparations, the BSP chief has also indicated the names of the potential candidates for three seats including Phulpur (Prayagraj), Majhawan (Mirzapur) and Katehari (Ambedkarnagar).The party has decided to field Brahmin candidates Deepu Tiwari in the Manjhawan seat in Mirzapur district and Prateek Pandey in the Katehri assembly seat in Ambedkar Nagar district while a Dalit candidate Shiv Baran Pasi in Phulpur assembly seat in Prayagraj district. The BSP plans to approach the by-election with a social engineering formula, focusing on its core support base – Dalits.While addressing her party office bearers on Sunday, Mayawati told them that the party would work hard in the by-election to regain its support base that shifted to the INDIA bloc and NDA in 2024 Lok Sabha election.“The BSP will make the Supreme Court order on sub-classification of SC/ST and reservation in government jobs an issue in the by-poll to win back the Dalit support base,” said the BSP chief.Significantly, the BSP has been on a gradual decline since the 2012 Assembly election when its tally in the UP Assembly had come down to 80 from 206 seats. In the following elections including the 2017 Assembly polls, the party got just 19 seats which further came down to one in 2022 UP polls.Similarly, in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the BSP had failed to open its account in UP under the saffron surge. However, in 2019, when it contested the parliamentary elections in alliance with the SP, it managed to secure 10 seats in Lok Sabha but in 2024, the party against reduced to zero in UP.Moreover, its vote share also shrunk from 19.42% in 2019 Lok Sabha election to 9.39% in the 2024 election. However, of the 10 assembly seats up for grabs, at least on three, including Khair (65302) in Aligarh, Katehari (58482) in Ambedkarnagar and Manjhawan (52990) in Mirzapur, the BSP managed to get over 50,000 votes in 2022 state polls.While addressing her party office bearers and workers, Mayawati said the BSP was the party of the poor, exploited, and deprived. It did not run on donations from the rich and capitalists. “The party leaders and workers contribute to run the party’s missionary movement and election management,’ she said adding a caution for the Dalit community to remain alert on the reservation issue. She claimed that a conspiracy was being hatched to end reservation in government jobs.While opposing the recent Supreme Court order over the sub-classification within the SC/ST quota, Mayawati said, “The BSP has opposed sub-classification within Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) by a seven-judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court. In contrast, the BJP and Congress, which have been accused of conspiring to end reservation for SCs and STs in government jobs, have yet to come clear on their stand over the Supreme Court order. The BSP, however, has come out openly against the court order. BSP is an Ambedkarite party and a well-wisher of the Dalits,” she asserted.BSP National Coordinator Akash Anand, who is campaigning in election-bound states of Haryana and Maharashtra, will also hold meetings in these 10 constituencies.Setting the tone of her party’s narrative for the by-poll, Mayawati, who is often accused by SP and Congress of supporting the BJP from behind the curtains, claimed that the BJP was denying a caste census and interfering in the functioning of mosques, madrasas, and Waqf properties.She accused the Congress also of having spoken vaguely about the creamy layer.“Despite having 99 MPs, Congress did not raise any objections in Parliament to nullify the Supreme Court’s decision. This party won these seats in the name of saving the Constitution and reservation,” she said.
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