Lucknow: With 12 days left for the election process to begin in Uttar Pradesh, the major political parties are still not fully prepared for the polls.
The BJP and the Congress are yet to draw up their final list of candidates, the BSP is experimenting with a new social engineering formula while the ruling Samajwadi Party is grappling with two factions, two leaders, and two lists of candidates.
The SP, which has biggest stakes in these elections, is in a state of complete disarray.
The notification for 73 Assembly seats in western UP will be issued on January 17, kicking off the poll process but the fight over the party name and symbol between the Mulayam and Akhilesh faction remains unresolved. The biggest issue before both factions) now is the possibility of a split in its Muslim support base since a divided party may lose out on the Muslim votes, which could shift to the BSP to defeat the BJP.
Since the maximum Muslim-populated constituencies are going to polls in the first phase, the Samajwadi factional war could cost the SP dear. The loss of Musl-im votes — even if it is a small percentage — will upset the apple cart of the Samajwadis. Besides, all issues of development and governance of the Akhilesh government have been pushed to the periphery and the talks of split have taken the centre stage as both factions have gone to the EC, staking claim over the party name and symbol.
The party symbol and the name are now the main issue before both the factions since the time to reach out to voters with a new name and symbol is grossly insufficient. The worst hit in this scenario are the candidates, including sitting legislators, whose fate also remains in dark along with that of their respective leaders.
“We do not know whether we will get to contest on the ‘cycle’ (party symbol) and the Samajwadi Party name or not. The CM has told us to go ahead and publicise his name but the symbol is more important because that is what will be seen on the EVMs. Moreover, posters and banners will have minimum presence in the campaign and this will make it almost impossible to contest the polls with a new name or symbol,” said a party MLA.
SP legislators are apprehensive that the Election Commission may take a few more days to announce its decision on the dispute and this could adversely impact their campaign.
Besides the issue of party name and symbol, it is the vertical division in the party structure that is causing irreparable damage to the party. The split in the organisation has percolated down to the village level and the organisational strength of the party — for both factions — has almost halved.
A former minister and SP MLA, who is in the Mulayam camp, admitted that around 40 per cent of his party supporters, mostly the youth, have gone towards the Akhilesh faction. “This will undoubtedly cast a shadow on the campaign, though we will work doubly hard now,” he said.
