Akhilesh Yadav, Mayawati to Finally Begin Poll Rallies in Western UP After Eid

The Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party together won nine of 16 West UP seats in 2019 when they fought in an alliance. (PTI)

A senior BJP leader claimed both Akhilesh and Mayawati were not confident of getting big crowds during Ramzan and hence, are beginning their campaign after Eid, which falls on April 11

With an eye on the Muslim vote bank, both Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati will hit the campaign trail in Western Uttar Pradesh post Eid. Yadav’s first rallies are scheduled from April 13 while Mayawati will start her campaign from April 14, sources said.

Both the big opposition leaders in UP have been missing from campaign so far, even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi has done three big rallies in West UP in Meerut, Saharanpur and Pilibhit.

A senior BJP leader claimed both Akhilesh and Mayawati were not confident of getting big crowds during Ramzan and hence, are beginning their campaign post-Eid, which falls on April 11.

The campaigning for the first phase of polling on April 19 will end on April 17. The first two phases of polls in West UP on April 19 and April 26 are in the Muslim-dominated seats of Uttar Pradesh, with votes to be cast in 16 seats. The Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party together won nine of these seats in 2019 when they fought in an alliance.

Akhilesh Yadav will start his campaign in Western UP from April 13 with rallies in Bijnor and Nagina seats. He is expected to do more rallies till April 24 in West UP. Mayawati will be doing 10 rallies from April 14 for seats in the first two phases. The SP and BSP are contesting separately this time in UP, which is expected to split the Muslim vote and benefit the BJP-RLD alliance this time. The BJP had won all 16 seats of West UP in 2014 when the SP and BSP had contested separately in the state.

Earlier, speaking to News18, BJP’s most prominent Jat face in the region, Union minister and Muzzafarnagar MP Sanjeev Balyan, had said: “The mood in western Uttar Pradesh this time is like in 2014…the 2014 storm of the BJP is back. We will sweep entire western UP.”

“This time, BSP is fighting separately…they have a vote bank on each seat. Secondly, RLD is with us. So BSP is going separately and RLD is coming with us and we both have our vote banks. The arithmetic is a complete opposite of 2019. We won in 2019 also and this time, too, there is no doubt. At many places, there is no fight at all. Opposition candidates are ready to leave their ticket if they can,” Balyan told News18.