Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati
In the Lok Sabha elections, with the support of the Congress and the ‘PDA’ ticket of the SP, Akhilesh Yadav had changed the political situation of Uttar Pradesh. It was a big political blow for the BJP, but within five months all the equations changed. Due to Mayawati’s silence in the by-elections, the BSP seemed to be absent from the main fight for all seats. Due to this, Dalit voters seemed divided in many seats. The danger of Dalit chemistry deteriorating is clearly visible. In such a situation, in the by-elections held on 9 seats, it is seen that many seats are slipping out of the SP’s hands.
The UP by-elections may not have any impact on the government, but it will definitely have an impact on future politics. Therefore, the by-election is considered the semi-final of 2027. From SP to BJP, the BSP, including the party of Chandrashekhar Azad and Asaduddin Owaisi, tried their luck. The BSP had definitely opposed the by-elections, but Mayawati and all her party’s senior leaders maintained an electoral distance. There was a lot of commotion on the day of voting, but Mayawati remained completely silent.
Contrary to the SP’s allegations of voting irregularities in the by-elections, the BSP has not filed any complaints. Akhilesh Yadav held a press conference and accused the BJP and UP administration of collusion and said that people are being prevented from voting. Following this, the Election Commission took action and suspended seven police officers, including the inspector. The video of Kakrauli police station in charge of Muzaffarnagar pointing a revolver at women voters went viral and questions were also raised. There was no reaction from the BSP to all these incidents, while the SP had opened a front throughout the day from the roads to social media.
The BSP had fielded candidates for all 9 seats
The BSP used to stay away from by-elections while in opposition, but has entered the field to preserve its existence in today’s politics. After the Haryana elections, Mayawati had said that the BSP will make efforts in the UP by-elections so that its people do not wander here and there. The BSP will strongly contest the by-elections. Earlier, the BSP had also participated in the by-elections held in five state assembly seats during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. However, none of its candidates could win. This time too the BSP fielded its candidates for all the nine seats.
The BSP had also nominated 40 star activists for the by-election campaign, but most of the important faces were not visible. BSP supreme leader Mayawati and national coordinator Akash Anand also did not address the public meeting to support the party’s candidate in any seat. The BSP has its political dominance in assembly seats like Majhwan, Katehari and Meerapur. BSP has managed to win the Majhwan seat 5 times, while SP has not yet been able to open its account. Similarly, Meerapur, Khair and Katehari seats have also been more favorable for the BSP than the SP.
Mayawati stayed away from by-elections
The UP by-elections are also considered very important from the point of view of Dalit votes. Despite this, Mayawati stayed away from the by-elections and maintained complete silence even on the day of voting. Due to Mayawati’s silence, Dalit voters were left in a dilemma in the by-elections. CM Yogi was seen continuously trying to unite the Hindu votes scattered across castes through ‘Batoge to Katoge’, while SP chief Akhilesh Yadav was trying to completely unify the PDA ticket. Despite this, it is believed that the SP’s political equation has gone wrong.
In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the SP became the number one party in UP on the basis of unity of Dalit-Muslim-Backward votes, but since then the Congress and the SP have been targeting Mayawati. In the UP by-elections, Dalit voters play a decisive role in Majhwan, Khair, Meerapur, Katehari and Phulpur seats, but more than half of the polling stations in these seats did not even have the bags of the UP candidates. BSP.
The situation before the vote in Katehari was different, but it changed on the day of the vote. BSP candidate Amit Verma has ruined SP politics by infiltrating the votes of his co-workers. There was a direct contest between BJP’s Dharamraj Nishad and SP’s Shobhawati Verma. If the BSP manages to retain the Dalit votes in this seat, then it can ruin the balance of the SP cycle. Similarly, in Karhal, BSP’s Avinash Shakya was seen mobilizing more Dalit votes than the Shakya community of his own caste.
Even in the seats of Meerapur, Kundarki, Khair and Ghaziabad, the BSP’s central vote bank looks different. Mayawati had tried to create a Dalit-Muslim equation in Kundarki and Meerapur, but could not implement it at the ground level. In both seats, BSP candidates were not seen fighting or complaining in any booth, while SP candidates were seen fighting with the police. Apart from this, no complaints of any kind were heard regarding voting in Dalit-dominated booths; Wherever accusations were made, they were mostly in Muslim areas.
Did Mayawati ruin SP’s political equation?
In the Muslim-dominated villages of Kakrauli, Sikri, Meerapur, Jatwada and Jauli, Muslim voters were divided between the SP, the BSP and the Azad Samaj Party since morning. After the stone pelting in Kakrauli, the mobilization of Muslim votes was seen more in support of the SP candidate, but in Meerapur there was a fragmentation of Dalit votes. The BSP bag was not visible even at the Kundarki booth, which is a Dalit-dominated area. Even in the Dalit-dominated Sisamau village, the assembly headquarters, there was resentment against the SP candidate and people rallied in favor of the BJP. The SP had fielded candidate Thakur for the Phulpur seat, but he could not have much success in breaking into the BJP vote bank. In such a situation, the question arises whether Mayawati’s surrender has ruined the SP’s political equation.
