Second phase nominations end: Parties feel caste pulse, vie to win hearts in Jatland
BJP aims for dominance in 8 Lok Sabha seats in west UP, allying with RLD. SP alters strategy, fielding new candidates. Polling on April 26.
Powered by Jat support after having brought the Rashtriya Lok Dal onboard as an ally, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is aiming for total dominance on the eight Lok Sabha seats -- Amroha, Meerut, Baghpat, Ghaziabad, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Bulandshahr, Aligarh and Mathura – where the filing of nominations concluded on Thursday.
A total of 175 nominations have been filed for these eight seats in west UP where polling will be held in the second phase of the Lok Sabha election on April 26.
The BJP had bagged seven of these seats -- Meerut, Baghpat, Ghaziabad, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Bulandshahr, Aligarh and Mathura -- in the 2019 Lok Sabha election, defeating SP-BSP- RLD alliance candidates in their stronghold.
In 2024, the BJP has reworked its strategy by allying with the RLD and allotting the Baghpat seat to the party that has Jats as its core support base.
To regain lost ground, the SP has tied up with the Congress and was initially working on Muslim- OBC formula to check the BJP. But the SP altered its strategy on the last day of nominations by changing candidates for the Meerut and Baghpat seats. Dalit candidate Sunita Verma replaced OBC aspirant Atul Pradhan in Meerut while Manoj Chaudhary was replaced with former MLA Amarpal Sharma in Baghpat.
The SP has fielded candidates on Meerut, Baghpat, Gautam Buddha Nagar and Aligarh seats, leaving Amroha, Bulandshahr, Ghaziabad and Mathura to the Congress.
The BSP that won the Amroha seat in 2019 has decided to go solo.
The second phase poll will decide the fate of former Union minister Mahesh Sharma, who is seeking a third term on the BJP ticket from Gautam Buddha Nagar, Ramayan fame actor Arun Govil in Meerut and actress Hema Malini, who is seeking a hat-trick of wins from Mathura.
Former Mumbai police commissioner Satya Pal Singh is not in the fray this time. He had defeated RLD chief Ajit Singh in Baghpat in 2014 and Jayant Chaudhary in 2019. The BJP has allotted Baghpat to the RLD this time.
Amroha is set to witness a contest among Congress’s Danish Ali, BJP’s Kanwar Singh Tanwar, and the BSP’s Dr Mujahid Hussain. There are 32% Muslims, 19% Dalits, and 12% Jat voters in the constituency.
In 2019, Danish Ali won the seat for the BSP, defeating the BJP’s Kanwar Singh Tanwar. The BSP suspended Ali last year on the charge of indiscipline and he joined the Congress before the Lok Sabha poll notification.
The BJP stronghold Meerut will witness a three-way fight among the BJP’s Arun Govil, SP’s Sunita Verma and the BSP’s Devvrat Kumar Tyagi. There are 23% Muslims, 22% Dalits, 15% Jats and 18% upper caste (Brahmin- Rajput- Vaish) voters in the constituency.
The BJP won the seat in 1996, losing to Congress in 1999 and the BSP in 2004. BJP’s Rajendra Agrawal, who has been denied the party ticket, won the Meerut seat in 2009, 2014 and 2019. The BJP has replaced Agarwal with Govil.
Baghpat, considered an RLD fort, is set to witness a three-cornered contest among the RLD’s Rajkumar Sangwan, SP’s Amarpal Sharma and the BSP’s Praveen Baisala.
The SP has played the Brahmin card, replacing Manoj Chaudhary with Amarpal Sharma in Baghpat. The BSP has played the OBC card fielding Praveen Baisala, a Gujjar leader, for the same seat. There are 23% Jats, 19% Muslims, 21% Dalits, 11% Gujjars and 16% upper caste voters in the constituency.
Former PM Chaudhary Charan Singh had won the Baghpat seat thrice in 1977,1980 and 1984. His son Ajit Singh won it in 1989, 1991, 1996, 1999, 2004 and 2009. BJP candidate Sompal won the seat in 1998.
A BJP bastion since it came into existence in 2008, the Ghaziabad Lok Sabha seat is set to witness a contest between the BJP’s Atul Garg, Congress’s Dolly Sharma and the BSP’s Nandkishor Pundhir.
There are 15 % Muslim voters, 14% Brahmins, 6% Tyagis, 12% Rajputs, 11% Jats and 19% Dalit voters in Ghaziabad.
The BJP is banking on the popularity of Garg to retain the seat. The BSP plans to cash in on unhappiness among Rajputs in the rural areas over denial of ticket to two-time BJP MP and Union minister General (retd) VK Singh. The Congress is working on the Brahmin- Muslim formula.
Former Union minister Mahesh Sharma, who was elected to the Lok Sabha in 2014 and 2019, is the BJP candidate in Gautam Buddha Nagar, business hub of Uttar Pradesh. He is facing the SP’s Rahul Awana, a Gujjar leader and the BSP’s Rajendra Singh Solanki, a Rajput. Muslims constitute 12% of the voters, Dalits 20%, Gujjars 10%, Jats 7%, Rajputs 12% and Brahmins 17s of the voters in the constituency.
The Bulandshahr reserved seat is all set for a contest among the BJP’s Bhola Singh, who won the seat in 2014 and 2019, the BSP’s Girish Chandra, the sitting MP from Nagina, and the Congress’s Shiv Ram Valmiki.
In Aligarh, the BJP’s Satish Gautam (Brahmin), who won the seat in 2014 and 2019, is in the fray for a third term.
There are 19% Muslim voters, 21% Dalits, 16% Brahmins, 13% Rajputs and 14 % Jats in the constituency.
The BSP has fielded a Brahmin candidate, Hitendra Kumar aka Bunty Upadhyay, a former BJP leader, there. The SP has nominated Bijendra Singh.
In the pilgrim centre Mathura, two-time BJP MP Hema Malini is seeking a third term. She is pitted against Mukesh Dhangar of the Congress and Suresh Singh of the BSP.
The Congress was earlier planning to field boxer Vijendra Singh in Mathura but he joined the BJP on Wednesday. There are 22% Jats, 20% Dalits, 9% Muslims, 12% Rajputs, 14%, 14% Brahmins 14% and 7% Yadavs in the constituency.
