Parties mushroom in UP election season
Many smaller political outfits will contest to make their presence felt.
Lucknow: Come elections, many smaller political outfits will be contesting elections to make their presence felt in Uttar Pradesh this time. These parties also matter for mainstream political parties like the BJP and the Congress because of the support they enjoy among certain castes.
The relatively unknown Pichhda Varg Mahapanchayat Party (PVMP) will be contesting the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections with the matchstick as its poll symbol. The party claims to have the support of OBCs “who have been betrayed by almost all parties” and says it will contest all 403 seats.
Bal Krishna Chauhan of PVMP says, “Modi calls himself a backward but he has done nothing for the community in his two-and-a half-year term. The BJP has only used backwards as a vote bank”.
The Sarv Sambhav Party (SSP), headed by Bollywood actor Rajpal Yadav, is another new outfit that has entered the poll arena in the state. “I have been training my two brothers in politics for over a decade, now they are ready to take a dive,” Rajpal Yadav said at a press conference recently.
The actor, however, admitted that his party may not win any seats this time but said he was preparing for the next Parliament or Assembly polls. “Until the right times arrives for us, we will use social media to make our ideology reach the people,” he said.
Narayan Sai, the son of Asaram Bapu, has emerged with his Ojasvi Party that says it will contest 150 seats with the symbol of “tent”. Party secretary Dharmendra Singh says that Narain Sai will contest from two seats, Sahibabad and Shivpur, and was in the process of taking requisite permission from the court.
Another new entrant is a party named Most Backward Classes of India (MBCI). The party has “Harmonium” as the party symbol and is ready to contest the Assembly polls. The national secretary of the party, Shiv Shankar says that the party would contest at least 200 seats.
There are also parties with religious alliances like the Hindu Ekta Andolan Party, Islam Party Hind, Ambedkar Kranti Dal, or Sadbhavna Party.