In Uttar Pradesh it is often said that elections are won or lost in the eastern parts of the state. There are 110 such seats, spread across some of the state’s poorest districts, where basic amenities are often missing, where jobs are hard to find and where the second wave of Corona hit poor families badly.
In the 2017 assembly elections in Purvanchal, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) prepared a strong alliance of backward and Dalit groups in its favor. There were apprehensions about this before the 2022 elections. It was said that the youth do not have employment in settlements and villages. Families have been ravaged by Corona, and small castes have not seen the kind of development they were promised five years ago.
In early January, the SP took the step of separating the backward groups from the BJP. Senior minister Swami Prasad Maurya and 11 other leaders of Other Backward Classes (OBC) groups shunned the ruling party and made their way into the SP. Akhilesh Yadav hoped that these defections in Purvanchal would help the SP to rise above the image of the Yadav-Muslim party and create a backward and forward narrative for the elections.
but that did not happen. In the results declared on Thursday, the BJP and its allies won 81 seats in the region, while the SP-led alliance won just 53 seats. While the Bahujan Samaj Party has been an influential player in the region, it won just one in the easternmost district of Ballia across the state.
How did this happen?
Senior BJP leaders credited PM Narendra Modi’s rallies in the eastern parts for turning the sentiments in favor of the BJP. He acknowledged that the fight was tough for the BJP in an area where there was widespread resentment against Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and several local leaders complained of neglect. He also acknowledged that local discontent within the party was creating a lingering atmosphere, until Modi stepped in. Modi began to make a personal connection between his appeal and welfare delivery, which helped many families over the past two years.
“The mood changed drastically after the rallies addressed by the PM in Deoria, Sonbhadra, Ballia and other places. People put their grievances aside and came forward to support the party,” said a leader from the eastern region. Come, the credit for BJP’s victory here completely goes to the PM.”
It also had two smaller but influential allies in the BJP’s campaign – the Apna Dal (Sonelal), which won 12 seats, and the Nishad Party, which won 6 seats. These parties garnered support among poor but spatially concentrated castes. These communities help BJP win in closely contested seats.