Legislative Council Polls: No contest as 10 NDA, 3 SP candidates for 13 seats

The SP, which faced flak for allegedly ignoring “PDA” formula while selecting candidates for Rajya Sabha recently, has tried to strike a balance by nominating one OBC, one most backward and a Muslim to the Upper House of the UP Legislative Council and has gone all out to secure its bastion, the Azamgarh Lok Sabha seat.

The SP candidates include a minority face from Azamgarh, Shah Alam alias “Guddu Jamali”, who recently joined from the Bahujan Samaj Party. A two-term MLA from Mubarakpur Assembly seat in Azamgarh, Alam contested the 2022 bypoll from Azamgarh Lok Sabha constituency after the seat was vacated by Akhilesh Yadav and secured 2.66 lakh votes. In is presence, SP candidate Dharmendra Yadav lost to BJP candidate Dinesh Yadav by a slender margin of 8,000 votes in the bypoll.

The SP’s move comes at a time when the BJP is also making attempts to retain Azamgarh in the 2024 Lok Sabha election. Recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed a public meeting in Azamgarh and set the ball rolling on a large number of development projects. Even Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav, who had visited Azamgarh last month, had reminded people of an “Azamgarh connect” in his family.

SP candidates file nominations in Lucknow, Monday. (Express Photo by Vishal Srivastav)

Thus, apart from Shah Alam, who has a strong base among minority voters in Azamgarh, the SP also rewarded veteran OBC Yadav leader Balram Yadav, who has been a six-term MLA and MLC (several times) in the past. Yadav, who hails from Azamgarh, has a strong presence among Yadav voters of the region and his nomination is also seen as an attempt to boost the “PDA” formula and strengthen the party’s chances to win the Azamgarh seat.

The SP’s third candidate is Kiranpal Shakya, the party’s national secretary, who hails from Shamli in west UP and belongs to a most backward community. Having lost an alliance with the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), the SP has made attempts to include most backward leaders in the list, that too one who has a base in west UP.
Shah Alam said on Monday, “PDA jumla nahi… Yeh ek thought hai aur dekhiyega iske natije bahut acche rahenge (PDA is not a jumla… It’s a thought. Just see… It will have very good results).”

Meanwhile, the BJP, which can send 10 members to Upper House, has backed its alliance partners before the Lok Sabha polls, both new and old, by supporting candidate of one member each from the Apna Dal (S) as well as the Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP) and the RLD. Of the 10 candidates, seven are from the BJP and three from the NDA’s alliance partners.

The SBSP, which recently made an entry into the state Cabinet, for the first time got an opportunity to send one of its leaders to the Upper House of the UP Legislature.

From the BJP, candidates included former ministers Mahendra Singh, Ashok Katariya, party state vice-president Vijay Bahadur Pathak, former Jhansi mayor Ram Tirath Singhal, Dharmendra Singh and Mohit Beniwal.

As for the NDA’s alliance partners, Ashish Patel of Apna Dal (S), Yogesh Chaudhary of RLD and Vichelal of SBSP filed their nomination papers Monday.
Since only 13 candidates have applied for 13 seats, all of them will be elected to the Upper House. However, the results will be declared after the last date for withdrawal of nomination papers, i.e. March 14.