Mayawati, leader of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), is pushing for a significant comeback in Uttar Pradesh by fielding her party’s candidates across all nine seats in the upcoming November 20 bypolls. Criticizing both the ruling BJP and the main opposition Samajwadi Party (SP), Mayawati has alleged that the two parties are working in tandem, which she claims has spurred the BSP’s bold strategy to create a triangular contest.
In the 2022 UP Assembly elections, the SP had captured four of these nine seats, the BJP three, while the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) and the NISHAD Party won one each. Notably, the BSP had placed second only in the Khair seat in Aligarh district, a Scheduled Caste-reserved constituency, where it had garnered 26% of the vote. In the other eight seats, the BSP had come in third, struggling to break through the BJP-SP dominance.
For the bypolls, the BSP has made strategic moves with its candidate selections. It is fielding Muslim candidates in Meerapur and Kundarki, both with strong Muslim voter bases, while opting for OBC candidates in OBC-dominant areas like Katehari and Karhal. The party has also fielded a Brahmin candidate in the OBC-majority Majhawan seat, underscoring a cross-community approach. This candidate selection underscores Mayawati’s efforts to challenge both the BJP and SP by appealing to various voter blocs across caste and religious lines.
Mayawati herself, along with her nephew and BSP national coordinator Akash Anand, is on the party’s list of star campaigners, though insiders suggest that neither may actively join the campaign trail. Instead, Mayawati has issued a public appeal to voters to support the BSP, aiming to regain ground in a state where the party’s influence has waned. The BSP’s performance in the 2022 Assembly elections reflected this decline, securing only one out of 403 seats with a reduced vote share of 12.88%, compared to 22.23% in 2017.
This electoral strategy reflects Mayawati’s resolve to position the BSP as an independent political force capable of contesting both the BJP and SP. By fielding her candidates in each seat, Mayawati seeks to re-establish the BSP’s relevance in UP politics, with a particular focus on drawing support from the Dalit, Muslim, and OBC communities. She hopes this approach will rekindle voter support and set the BSP on a path to challenge the duopoly of the BJP and SP in the state’s politics.
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