BSP fielding Muslim candidates may cut into Congress-SP vote bank

The Muslim community accounts for about 19% of UP’s total population and the BSP is taking all measures to woo them, sharpening its attack on the BJP. This time, the party is working on Dalit-Muslim formula, BSP chief Mayawati has fielded about 20 candidates from the Muslim community, including women candidates, out of the 72 nominees it has declared so far. The BSP has fielded the Muslim candidates from a slew of eastern UP constituencies such as Varanasi, Gorakhpur, Maharajganj, Bhadohi, Ambedkarnagar and Sant Kabir Nagar. In west UP, the BSP has fielded Majid Ali from Saharanpur, Zeeshan Khan from Rampur, Mujahid Hussain from Amroha. The party has fielded Anees Ahmed from Pilibhit, Shaukat Ali from Sambhal and Irfan Saifi from Moradabad. In Badaun, where SP chief Akhilesh Yadav’s cousin Aditya Yadav, son of Shivpal Singh Yadav, is in the fray, the BSP has fielded Muslim Khan. In central UP, the BSP has fielded Sarwar Malik from Lucknow against defence minister Rajnath Singh and SP candidate Ravidas Mahrotra. From Kannauj, where Akhilesh is contesting from, the BSP has named Imran Bin Zafar as its candidate. In the Muslim-dominated Azamgarh constituency in Purvanchal (east UP), the BSP recently replaced its candidate Bhim Rajbhar, former state party president, with a Pasmanda (backward) Muslim woman Sabiha Ansari. According to political observers, BSP’s decision to field Muslim candidates, coupled with its traditional Dalit vote bank, is undoubtedly to challenge the SP-Congress alliance. This fracture in the Dalit and Muslim vote bank may ultimately favour BJP. While the SP and Congress accused the BSP of being allegedly the BJP’s B-team.