The BJP’s candidate list for the forthcoming bypolls is likely to be dominated by Dalits and the most backward castes, to directly take on the Samajwadi Party’s PDA (Picchda Dalit Alpsankhyak) plank. This selection is likely to extend to general seats as well.
Party sources said the BJP will give just one ticket to a general class candidate. This is likely to be the Ghaziabad seat.
The district committees for the nine seats that are to go to the bypolls had given lists of 10 names each. These were whittled down to just three at a meeting held at the centre.
While the BJP is yet to announce the list of names, the party’s strategy is to show that it and not the Samajwadi Party is the party for backwards and Dalits—a plank that its rival has benefitted from in the recent Lok Sabha elections.
The Dalit ticket may also go to Sisamau (Knapur) too which is a general seat. The SP pick for this seat is a minority.
Katehri, Phulpur, Manjhwa, and Kundarkri are likely to go to candidates from the most Backward castes.
Besides this, Meerpur, which is a seat that should go to party ally Rashtriya Lok Dal, is likely to see a Jat BJP candidate.
The party is still smoothing out things with its other ally, the Nishad Party, which is insisting that it will fight the election on its own symbol, while the BJP wants it to fight on the lotus symbol. Sanjay Nishad who is in Delhi to discuss seat possibilities, insisted that party workers want to fight the elections on the party symbol. He further said that not doing so could lead to the loss of morale among them.
One seat which will be difficult for the BJP, both in terms of candidate selection and also support will be Kunadrki, which is a Muslim-dominated seat. Sismau has also been a seat that has always been with the SP and would be an uphill battle for the party.
