Dalits get less than one-fourth of the seats
Reiterating that her party will emerge as the “balance of power” at the Centre post-lok Sabha elections, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati on Thursday announced candidates for 80 lok Sabha seats from Uttar Pradesh with more than one-third of them belonging to the upper castes.
Interestingly, the party’s major and traditional vote bank — the Dalits — have got less than one-fourth of the seats.
Of the 80 candidates, 29 are from upper caste. Of them, 21 are Brahmins. After Brahmins, Muslims got the largest share of 19 seats. Mayawati put up Dalit candidates on 17 seats, all of which are reserved constituencies. Those from the backward classes have been fielded on 15 seats. Seven women figure in the list. Mayawati has sought to stitch a similar social engineering combination, of Brahmin and Dalits, which had catapulted her party to power in Uttar Pradesh in 2007.
“We have assimilated all castes in our list. We have given representation to all the castes and religious groups as per their participation in the party.”
Mayawati said, while releasing the list of the candidates.Party’s Brahmin-Dalit social engineering combination is a battle tested formula. In 2007 Assembly elections, Mayawati surprised all by combining the two divergent social castes of Brahmins and Dalits that yielded dividends by propelling the party to power with a resounding margin. The thinking behind this social equation is that with a Brahmin face at the forefront it is easy to divide the upper caste votes. The transfer of Dalit votes on BSP’s name is a natural phenomenon and these two castes - if combined at ground level - could enable BSP’s win on many seats.
“What happened in 2007 will happen in this election too. The party will win enough seats to emerge as balance of power. When this will happen, the BSP will form government with like- minded parties minus BJP-led NDA and Congress-led UPA,” Mayawati said, as she revealed her national ambitions.
The candidates she announced carry all shades. Some of them are criminals like Pawan Pandey, who has been fielded against BJP’s Varun Gandhi from Sultanpur, while Jitendra Singh alias Babloo, involved in an incident of arson at Congress leader Rita Bahuguna Joshi’s house, has been announced as candidate from Faizabad seat
Dreaded dacoit Phoolan Devi’s husband Ummed Singh is party candidate from Shahajahanpur while war veteran Akbar Ahmed ‘Dumpy’ will be BSP’s candidate against Union Minister Beni Prasad Verma in Gonda.
The party retained almost all the MPs but changed sittings candidates in Kairana, Hamirpur Deoria, Salempur, Jaunpur and Bhadohi. Former minister Jaiveer Singh has been fielded from Farrukhabad against Congress’ Salman Khurshid while Vijay Prakash Jaiswal will be contesting against BJP’s PM candidate Narendra Modi from Varanasi. Sanghmitra Maurya, daughter of party’s senior leader and former state unit president Swami Prasad Maurya, and Shah Alam alias Guddu Jamali have been fielded against Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav from Mainpuri and Azamgarh seatsrespectively.
The BSP has given tickets to two relatives of former minister Ramvir Upadhaya. His wife Seema Upadhyay has been renominated from her sitting constituency Fatehpur Sikri from where RlD has fielded Amar Singh, while his brother Mukul Upadhaya will contest from Ghaziabad.
She said that her party will take all necessary steps to stop NDA from coming to power. When asked whether she had discussions with Jayalalithaa or Mamata Banerjee over post poll scenario she said: “The BSP will look for these options after elections. We do not know who will get how many seats so there is no use talking about it now.”