Lok Sabha Elections 2024 | Parties scramble for OBC votes in UP for phase 7 seats

Lucknow: As the Lok Sabha polls move into the seventh and final phase, the spotlight has shifted on the ‘non-Yadav’ OBC voters in UP, whose support can decide the outcome of the contests on the 13 seats going to polls on June 1.

The constituencies going to the polls in the final phase include Varanasi, Mirzapur, Bhadohi, Ghosi, Ghazipur, Gorakhpur, Maharajganj, Deoria, Kushinagar, Bansgaon, Robertsganj, Chandauli, Ballia and Salempur.

Barring Varanasi, where prime minister Narendra Modi is in the fray, all the three major players- BJP, I.N.D.I.A alliance (comprising Samajwadi Party (SP) and Congress) and the BSP -have put up multiple candidates, hailing from ‘non-Yadav’ OBC communities, in hopes of garnering their support.

In the Mirzapur constituency, Union Minister and Apna Dal leader Anupriya Patel faces Ramesh Bind of the SP. While Anupriya hails from Kurmi community, which makes up the majority of the BJP allied Apna Dal, the SP nominee comes from the Bind community.

Similarly, on Maharajganj seat, the BJP has fielded Pankaj Choudhary, who faces Ravindra Choudhary of the I.N.D.I.A alliance. In Salempur constituency, BJP’s Ravindra Kushwaha is challenged by the I.N.D.I.A alliance’s Rama Shankar Rajbhar.

In the Ghosi seat, which BJP allotted to its alliance partner Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP), Arvind Rajbhar faces the I.N.D.I.A alliance’s Rajiv Rai. BSP has fielded Balkrishna Chouhan from Ghosi.

In Gorakhpur, which is the home town of chief minister Yogi Adityanath, the I.N.D.I.A alliance has fielded Kajal Nishad, who hails from ‘Nishad’ (fishermen) community. Kajal faces Bhojpuri film actor and sitting MP Ravi Kishan.

The ‘Kurmi’ community voters are in sizable numbers in Mirzapur, Varanasi, Bhadohi and some other Lok Sabha seats. The ‘Rajbhar’ community voters play a decisive role in deciding the outcome of the polls in Ghoshi, Salempur and Ghazipur Lok Sabha constituencies.

The ‘Nishad’ community voters form a large part of the electorate in Gorakhpur constituency. Similarly the ‘non-Yadav’ OBC communities like Kushwaha, Bind, Chouhan, Pal and Prajapati are in sizable numbers on several Lok Sabha seats.

BJP will look to complete the clean sweep of the seats going to poll in this phase, as they had missed out on 1 of the 13 seats to SP. SP will look to perform much better than last time around.

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