Rapidly shrinking BSP draws up Delhi poll plan, puts Mayawati’s nephew in charge

For Akash, the Delhi polls will be crucial after the party’s loss in Haryana, where he was in charge of the party’s electoral efforts. However, party leaders at the time pointed out that they managed to increase their vote share in Haryana. Last month, Anand led a protest march in Delhi after Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s remarks on Dr B R Ambedkar sparked a massive political row.

BSP insiders said Mayawati had divided the 70 Assembly seats in Delhi into five zones and deployed 10 senior leaders as zonal coordinators, two for each zone. Among the zonal coordinators are leaders such as Randhir Beniwal of Saharanpur, who was an integral part of its Haryana Assembly election campaign last year, Rajesh Tanwar, Sudesh Arya, Lalit Kumar, Sujeet Samrat, Rajani, Rajaram, S P Singh, Dharamveer Singh Ashok, and Satish Chaudhary. These leaders have been tasked with shortlisting names for candidate selection, holding organisational meetings, and directing the party’s campaign. BSP leaders said these leaders had experience in election and campaign management in UP, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir, and Uttarakhand.

While a panel of three to four leaders in each zone will help these zonal coordinators, senior leader Nitin Singh will act as the central coordinator to supervise the poll preparations, and Akash will serve as the link between the state unit and Mayawati. BSP sources said Akash was also involved in the selection of candidates and had been chairing meetings of the party’s Delhi unit and these zonal coordinators.

The BSP has decided to contest all 70 constituencies and has started the candidate selection process. “A panel of names for several seats have been already sent to the party national president who, after consultation with Akash, will declare the candidates. The panel of names are getting revised in some seats after finding more winnable and better candidates,” said a BSP leader.

Declining in Delhi

In previous elections in the National Capital, the party had declared candidates several months in advance but there was a delay this time. “That is because the party has decided to give preference to candidates from the cadre. The screening process is going on,” said Nitin Singh.

Singh said the BSP’s primary goal was to regain the vote base that the party lost after the emergence of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Delhi.

The BSP’s last win in Delhi was in 2008 when it had two MLAs — in Badarpur and Gokalpur (SC-reserved seat) — and a vote share of 14%. “We have to get back that vote share and play a decisive role in the results of Delhi,” said a party leader.

In 2013, BSP’s vote share declined to 5.35% and two years later fell further to 1.3%, with its 69 candidates losing their deposits. The BSP contested 68 seats in 2020 and all the candidates lost their deposits as the vote share fell to 0.71%. The BSP’s vote share was a meagre 0.7% in Delhi in the Lok Sabha polls last year.

A shrinking electoral footprint notwithstanding, BSP Delhi president Lakshman Singh said he was hopeful about a better performance this time. “We are seeing a four-cornered contest this time and the BSP is in good position. We are hopeful to win the seats because the public is fed up with the false promises of AAP and the divisive politics of the BJP. The AAP and Arvind Kejriwal have been exposed. There is strong anti-incumbency against the party,” he said.