Ghosi bypoll: Mini political contest high on symbolism

LUCKNOW On the face of it, the outcome of the September 5 bypoll in Ghosi, an assembly segment in Mau district of eastern UP, is inconsequential, if viewed from the prism of political stability of the Yogi Adityanath government.

The backdrop of the mini political contest is what makes it interesting.

First, the BJP’s bypoll contestant Dara Singh Chauhan, an OBC, is the same leader who had won the seat on the Samajwadi Party symbol in 2022 UP polls.

The BJP will have the task of explaining to Ghosi voters Dara Singh’s flip flop that forced the bypoll - a line that would have its own symbolism and significance given the fact that both BJP and SP are claiming that lawmakers of both camps are in touch, waiting to shift loyalties ahead of the 2024 LS polls.

The SP too would be uncomfortable. That’s because the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) is now in alliance with BJP. The SBSP commands support of Rajbhars (OBCs), who are the most dominant OBC caste in the constituency after Yadavs.

In 2022, SP-SBSP had fought polls together, which then was said to be a key reason in SP’s win given the substantial Rajbhar presence in Ghosi. After Muslims (85,999) and Jatav Dalits (72205), Rajbhars (53865) are the dominant OBCs after Yadavs (58741) here.

SBSP chief Om Prakash Rajbhar, along with Dara Singh Chauhan, is hopeful of a berth in the Yogi Adityanath government that has eight vacancies. He was in Ghosi to campaign for Dara Singh, along with UP BJP chief Bhupendra Chaudhary and deputy CM Brajesh Pathak and wasted little time in dismissing SP’s challenge.

This is the first poll in UP after the opposition renamed United Progressive Alliance (UPA) as I.N.D.I.A to take on BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

“We are winning hands down. The SP will know the reality of I.N.D.I.A alliance now. It will be a sample test ahead of the 2024 LS polls,” BJP leaders said.

“The Ghosi bypoll is a trailer for 2024 LS polls. The BJP candidate will win by a massive margin. Our opponents would lose face and deposit,” said deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya.

The SP, which has raised the slogan of ‘PDA’ referring to ‘pichda (backwards), dalits and ‘alpsankhyak (minorities)’, has fielded Sudhakar Singh, an upper caste leader and given the overall election responsibility to Dharmendra Yadav, a cousin of SP chief Akhilesh Yadav.

“Along with upper caste, we will get votes of PDA too. Just wait and watch, the BJP would find it hard to save face,” said SP’s national secretary Ram Asrey Vishwakarma, among star campaigners for Ghosi bypoll.

The SP candidate has begun playing mind games too.

“I think OP Rajbhar ji would want me to win on the seat. I am somehow confident of this,” said Sudhakar while claiming that BJP will be hard pressed to explain to the people the reason that caused the bypoll.

Sudhakar is also playing the ‘bahari (outsider)’ card. “I think given the flip-flop of Dara Singh, an outsider who hails from Azamgarh, who has forced another election on Ghosi voters in just about a year’s time, the people would settle for a local who has stood by them through thick and thin,” he said.

However, Rajbhar addressing a public meeting hit back at the SP. “The SP should forget winning here or anywhere. Akhilesh ji will have to retire to Saifai as his party would neither win Ghosi nor a single Lok Sabha seat in 2024,” said the former minister who recently joined NDA.

Samajwadi Party rebel and BJP candidate Dara Singh Chauhan on Wednesday filed his nomination papers for the bypoll to Ghosi Assembly seat here. The bypoll is being seen as a straight contest between the ruling BJP and the SP as the Congress and the BSP have not announced their candidates for it. The counting of votes will take place on September 8.

The Congress is expected to sit out of the contest in favour of its opposition alliance partner Samajwadi Party. So is the BSP, whose non-aligned stance for 2024 LS polls has made BJP leaders smile.