Hours after BJP Spokesperson Sambit Patra dared Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav to issue a candidate list, the SP released its first list of 159 candidates for the upcoming assembly elections. In what could be termed as a measure to neutralise the polarisation attempt, the SP fielded only 30 Muslims out of its 159 candidates. Although the full list of the candidates is yet to come, in 2017 the Samajwadi Party had fielded 87 Muslim candidates in total.
SP ally Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) has also fielded five Muslim candidates out of 33 candidates it had declared so far.
In another interesting development, the SP has not shied away from backing its Muslim face Azam Khan and his family. Khan has been fielded from the Rampur seat, while his son Abdullah from the Swar assembly seat. Khan is the current MP of Rampur. The contest in Rampur gets interesting as Nawab Kazim Ali Khan from the royal family will be contesting against Azam Khan from Rampur, while his son Haider will be taking on Abdullah from Swar on an Apna Dal ticket. Haider was earlier declared as a Congress candidate, but he switched sides to Apna Dal after Congress issued their candidate list.
Sources in the Samajwadi Party said a lesser number of Muslim candidates was announced as per a well-thought strategy to counter polarisation attempts by the BJP. Most of the Muslim candidates fielded by the SP and its allies are from the western part of the state.
Meanwhile, the Bahujan Samaj Party has declared maximum Muslim candidates, which may hurt the SP-RLD alliance in western UP. The BSP has declared 40 Muslim candidates out of 109 candidates it had declared for the first and second phases so far.
Uttar Pradesh will vote in seven phases, starting February 10, 14, 20, 23 and 27, and then on March 3 and 7. The counting of votes will be done on March 10.
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