Kingmaker UP Goes To Polls

The issues raised by various parties signify their political thinking. Ideology is of course a major casualty. Even Akhilesh and Rahul have not been talking about secularism and attacking BJP as fundamentalist outfit. This is because signs are already visible of polarisation cutting across various caste divides. BJP has put up 76 Dalit candidates. SP and Congress are attacking Modi personally to dent his credibility.

- Vijay Dutt

The entire country is riveted to the outcome of assembly election, in the most populous state, with over 14,12,53,172 voters, which pundits believe is the semi-final of the 2019 general elections and a mini-referendum on demonetisation and surgical strike across the LoC.

In the first phase -- total seven -- polling was held for 73 seats in western UP on February 11, 2017. All the parties, BJP, SP-Congress alliance, BSP and Ajit Singh’s RLD were in the fray.

At stake are the political fate and future of all the leaders -- Narendra Modi, Rahul Gandhi, Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati. However, because western UP saw the most dramatic upsurge for the BJP in 2014, for the saffron leaders, this first phase is very critical. In 2012, BJP won 11 seats of 73, in 2014, it had an outstanding success in 68 assembly constituencies and the vote share of the party was jumped from 16.3 per cent to 50.4 per cent.