Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya with BJP candidate Deepak Patel during the latter's nomination rally for UP's Phulpur Assembly constituency bypoll.
Credit: PTI Photo-
Lucknow: Outsmarted by the I.N.D.I.A alliance in Uttar Pradesh in the recent Lok Sabha polls, the BJP, which saw its tally going down to 33 from 62 in the 2019 LS elections, is banking heavily on the Dalit and OBC support in the forthcoming assembly by-polls to counter the 'PDA' (pichda, dalit, alpsankhyak) formula of the Samajwadi Party (SP), which had helped the party (SP) reap rich electoral dividends in the state in the LS polls.
The saffron party has nominated Dalit and OBC candidates on seven of the eight seats it is contesting. It has left one seat to the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), an alliance partner of the NDA.
As many as four OBC candidates have been given tickets by the BJP in the by-polls. The other three candidates hailed from Dalit, thakur and brahmin communities respectively.
In a tactical move, the BJP has fielded Anujesh Yadav, a relative of SP president Akhilesh Yadav, from Karhal assembly seat, which was vacated by Akhilesh after his election from Kannauj seat in the LS polls. 'Yadav' votes are a deciding factor in Karhal.
Similarly the saffron party has fielded a 'Nishad' candidate from Katehri assembly seat in Ambedkar Nagar district from where the SP has fielded Shobhawati Verma. The strength of the 'Nishad' and 'Verma' (OBC) voters are almost equal in Katehari.
BJP has fielded OBC candidates from Phulpur and Manjhwa assembly seats in a bid to get the support of the large OBC community in those seats.
''We have learnt our lessons from the LS polls debacle....caste factors have been taken into consideration while deciding the candidates this time,''' said a senior UP BJP leader while speaking to DH here on Friday.
In the LS polls, BJP could win only 33 seats while the SP and Congress, which had an alliance, won 37 and six seats respectively.
The forthcoming assembly by-polls were being billed as a mini poll and the saffron party was desperate not to only retain five of the poll bound seats it had won in 2022 but also wrest a few from the SP.