Consolidation of Dalit-OBC Vote Bank is Being Sought by SP

The Samajwadi Party is trying to reach out to Dalits and Other Backward Castes (OBCs) in order to win the upcoming urban local body polls in Uttar Pradesh. The party’s president, Akhilesh Yadav, is working with Chandrasekhar, the leader of the Azad Samaj Party, who has influence among Dalits in west Uttar Pradesh. The SP is also hoping to benefit from Shivpal Singh Yadav’s return to the party. In the 2017 urban body polls, the SP did not win any of the 16 mayoral seats, while the BJP won 14 and the BSP won 2. The SP has been campaigning for a caste census and hopes that this will help its candidates in the election. A recent incident in which gangster-politician Atiq Ahmad and his brother Ashraf were killed in Prayagraj might also help consolidate Muslim votes against the BJP and benefit the SP. Political analyst Siddharth Kalhans noted that only 18 out of 213 candidates were able to save their deposits in the previous mayoral election.