Camping in Delhi, BSP chief eyes pan-India boost for party image
BSP leaders said Mayawati left for Delhi shortly after her birthday in January and has been staying there since to review the party's activities in different parts of the country.
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The BSP leader also said the party had prepared a panel of names for each urban local body. (File) Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) national president Mayawati has been camping in New Delhi for the past one month to monitor its preparations for the Uttar Pradesh urban local body elections, the 2024 Lok Sabha and other state polls which leaders say is an effort to boost the party’s pan-India footprint.
BSP leaders said Mayawati left for Delhi shortly after her birthday in January and has been staying there since to review the party’s activities in different parts of the country. Party sources said BSP’s mandal and zonal unit coordinators and other office-bearers of all 18 divisions in UP were being called in Delhi for meetings with Mayawati. During the meetings, she inquires about the progress of booth and sector committees in districts and programmes being organised for voter outreach — especially those for Muslims and Other Backward Classes.
Speaking to The Indian Express, BSP spokesperson Dharamvir Chaudhary said, “Party leaders of mandal and zone units in Uttar Pradesh are visiting booths and interacting with the public. The party national president is in Delhi these days where she is reviewing BSP’s organisational preparations for the UP local body elections and the Lok Sabha elections.”
“In a recent meeting, the party president directed us to be prepared for urban local body polls as the Uttar Pradesh government can announce the poll schedule any time once the OBC commission for local bodies submits its report on reservation to the government. If BSP performs better than other parties in the civic polls, it will send a strong message among voters ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections,” said a party leader.
The BSP leader also said the party had prepared a panel of names for each urban local body. “Each panel has names of OBC, SC/ST, general category and women leaders. The candidates would be finalised according to the reservation policy the government approves after the OBC commission prepares its report,” he added.
The urban local body polls in Uttar Pradesh were delayed after the Allahabad High Court in December 2023 ordered the holding of the urban local body polls in Uttar Pradesh at the earliest but without any reservation for the Other Backward Classes (OBCs). The Uttar Pradesh government also appointed a five-member commission for providing reservation to Other Backward Classes in urban local body elections.
At every booth, the BSP has appointed a five-member committee to interact with the voters and talk to them about the party’s ideologies. The party has also appointed sector committees which would supervise a group of eight to 10 booths. Each of these sector committees would comprise 70 members.
Before the local body elections were delayed in Uttar Pradesh, the BSP president had personally met those seeking tickets for the seats of mayors and corporators in municipal corporations, and, chairpersons in nagar palika parishads and nagar panchayat, sources said.
“She had assigned the responsibility of selection of candidates for members of nagar palika parishad and nagar panchayats to district units and coordinators. The party chief had also reviewed potential candidates for all 1,420 ward corporators in 17 municipal corporations,” they added.
While district-level leaders, mandals and zones have been assigned the responsibility of convening meetings of booth and sector committees in the presence of villagers,
Mayawati has directed the party’s state unit president Vishwanath Pal will be “paying surprise visits” to such meetings in every assembly constituency and reviewing the work of organisational committees.
In 2017, civic elections were held in 652 urban local bodies including 16 municipal corporations, 198 nagar palika parishads and 438 nagar panchayats. Apart from bagging the mayoral seats in Aligarh and Meerut, 147 BSP candidates were elected as municipal corporators, 29 as Nagar Palika Parishads chairpersons and 262 as members, and 45 Nagar Panchayats chairpersons and 218 members.
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