Samajwadi Party eyes non-Yadav OBCs, Dalits in overhaul of Uttar Pradesh poll strategy
With the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls hardly six months away, according to schedule, the Samajwadi Party (SP), the main Opposition in the State, is recalibrating
With the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls hardly six months away, according to schedule, the Samajwadi Party (SP), the main Opposition in the State, is recalibrating its seat-wise strategy with indications of filing candidates from other social groups like non-Yadav Other Backward Classes (OBCs), Dalits on seats previously fought and lost by candidates from its core voter base: Yadavs and Muslims. The seat-wise marking is at the ideation level, with strategists noting that there are at least 15 Assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh where candidates from the Yadav community contested on the Samajwadi Party ticket in the last polls and lost. These seats have a high Yadav electorate numbering between 40,000 and 60,000, but the party failed to win due to anti-Yadav polarisation. “If we give a ticket to a non-Yadav OBC or a Dalit, we have a good chance of winning, as Yadavs are in formidable numbers but not winnable in such seats,” said a leader focusing on such seats.
For example, in the Etah Assembly seat, the SP candidate Jugendra Singh Yadav lost both the 2017 and 2022 Assembly polls to the BJP by over 17,000 votes, despite the Yadav community electorate numbered over 60,000 on the seat. Also Read | BJP supporters ashamed of party’s misdeeds: Akhilesh Yadav “In the 2022 polls, our Etah candidate polled 80,292 votes but lost by 17,247; it means we failed to get sizeable votes from other social groups. If we give a ticket to a Lodh, we may win if Yadavs vote for us in large numbers,” added the leader. They cite a similar example for the Mainpuri Assembly seat, where in the 2022 Assembly polls, the SP candidate Raju Yadav lost by over 6,000 votes to the BJP. “Who expected the SP to lose the Mainpuri Assembly seat, but we lost; if we give a ticket outside the community, we would have won by over 15,000 votes,” added a leader.
For the main Opposition party, such calculations hold true for seats where Muslims have been fighting on the SP ticket and lost. To pacify the Yadav community, on such seats, the SP is reaching out to local strong and respected Yadav community elders to build a consensus within the community. They are being convinced that it’s a do-or-die battle for the party and hence a sacrifice must be made by the community for the sake of the Chief Minister's chair. The SP troubleshooters cited the success of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, where only five candidates from the Yadav community were filed by the party, and all of them won. “We made sacrifices in Lok Sabha, and it gave results; candidates from Kurmi, Pasi and other social groups won with the support of Yadav and other communities.
The BriefWire