Uttar Pradesh Election Dynamics Shift as Small Parties Alter Alliances

Lucknow: Amid the strong fortification of the NDA with small parties joining in Uttar Pradesh, several other small groups are breaking away from the SP-Congress alliance and undermining the INDIA alliance’s chances in the Lok Sabha elections. There is some scepticism about whether the small parties that have failed to establish a meaningful place in the opposition camp will be able to do anything spectacular in terms of outcomes, but they may certainly have a direct impact on the SP-Congress calculations.

A few days ago, Azad Party head Chandrashekhar Azad and Pallavi Patel of Apna Dal (Kameravadi) were seen as solid partners of the INDIA bloc and were planning to run in the elections as part of the INDIA coalition. However, Azad is now running for the Nagina parliamentary seat on behalf of his party and is campaigning, showcasing his ‘Y Plus Security’. Pallavi Patel, dissatisfied with SP, intends to run in the elections with Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM party. Pallavi, an SP MLA who rebelled against the party, along with a united team of Apna Dal (Kameravadi) and AIMIM, has announced that they will field candidates for about two dozen seats.

In reaction to SP’s “PDA” – ‘pichre’ (backward), Dalit, and ‘alpashankhak’ (minority), the PDM (Backward, Dalit, and Muslim) slogan of AIMIM and Apna Dal (Kameravadi) plainly reveals that their focus is exclusively on the opposition’s main vote bank. Owaisi, who has been looking for a support base in UP for some time, sees potential in his new coalition.

Prior to the announcement of the Lok Sabha elections, AIMIM declared that it will field candidates for 20 seats in Uttar Pradesh; however, it did not identify anyone for the eight seats in the first phase. It was thought that AIMIM would give the opposition a free pass, but after ST Hasan was denied a ticket by the SP from the Moradabad constituency, Owaisi became more involved in state politics. Similarly, on the eve of the polls, Swami Prasad Maurya left the SP and founded the Rashtriya Shoshit Samaj Party, which has recently indicated that it will run for the Kushinagar seat. He also indicated that he will run for five more state seats.

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