Uttar Pradesh Election Scene :New formulations – VENKITESH RAMAKRISHNAN

Apart from the anti-incumbency factor against the Mayawati government, many traditional and also new factors are impacting the election scene. The most prominent among the traditional factors is the caste-based political orientation. Parties in the contest are trying their best to consolidate their traditional support bases and supplement them with tie-ups with other caste and community groups.

The second most important factor is the emergence of a large number of young voters. During the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, the number of voters in Uttar Pradesh was 11.06 crore. In a span of 18 months since then, the Election Commission of India undertook extensive awareness and enrolment campaigns, which led to the addition of more than 1.4 crore voters. The rough estimate is that every third voter in the State is less than 39 years old (that is, 4.37 crore voters). Out of them, 53 lakh voters are in the 18-19 age bracket. Political parties and election officials expect them to exercise their franchise in large numbers, pushing up the voting percentage.

Third, the element of communal division that has time and again weighed down electoral battles in Uttar Pradesh is virtually non-existent, with even the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) refraining from highlighting issues with communal overtones. Fourth, the emergence of smaller parties like the Peace Party of India (PPI) and the Ulema Council from within the Muslim community, with significant influence in certain areas, is causing discomfiture to the three big secular parties in the contest – the BSP, the Samajwadi Party (S.P.) and the Congress. Over and above all is the impact of delimitation, which has changed the complexion of several constituencies so drastically that seats once considered the bastion of one party or the other do not fit the description anymore.

For More Reading. . .On

Brahmin disillusionment

Advantage Akhilesh

Kushwaha and the BJP

Congress prospects

Muslim vote