New Delhi:
Uttar Pradesh voted today for 55 seats over 10 districts in phase one. It's a keen battle, especially between the ruling BSP and a resurgent Congress, and one that is likely to set the tone for what will happen over the next 25 days and six more phases in this make or break UP assembly elections elections 2012.
At stake today, were more than just the 55 seats. This is a prestige battle. Here are 10 must-know facts about UP phase 1:
1) Voter turnout: Heavy rain early this morning ensured that only the very committed voter came out to vote then; at some booths across the Terai region there were no voters. Dalit voters were most prominent among those that braved the inclement weather and analysts said more the rain, more advantage to Mayawati. But the rain did stop, the number of voters out did swell and a 62 per cent voter turnout was recorded by the end of polling.
2) The numbers game: Polling was held in Sitapur, Barabanki, Faizabad, Ambedkar Nagar, Bahraich, Shravasti, Balrampur, Gonda, Siddharth Nagar and Basti districts amid tight security. Of the 55 seats, Mayawati's BSP holds 32. The Samjawadi Party, which lost power to Mayawati in 2007, had won 16 seats then. The Congress and the BJP were nowhere in the reckoning with four and three seats respectively. In the 2009 General Elections, the Congress, led by Rahul Gandhi made strong inroads into the BSP bastion. Of the Lok Sabha seats in these 10 districts, it had won seven; the BSP got just five, the SP two and the BJP none.
3) The Muslim vote: There is a significant Muslim vote in this region, which is also Other Backward Classes (OBC) and Dalit dominated. How the Muslims voted would be watched keenly - in UP overall Muslims are 18 per cent of the voting population. The Congress has overtly wooed Muslim voters with the promise of the sub-quota for backward Muslims and a big financial package for weavers. Right now, analysts say, it seems to enjoy most-favoured status with this vote bank. But there is Mayawati and the Samjawadi Party too is making a renewed claim for what was its major support base till Mulayam Singh Yadav shook hands with Kalyan Singh, a former BJP man and associated strongly with the Ram Mandir movement. The SP hopes the Muslim voter will return now that the Kalyan Singh association has ended.
4) The Caste Cauldron: In Uttar Pradesh, caste and community considerations in deciding political fortunes are a basic reality. So the Congress brought in Gonda MP and Union Minister Beni Prasad Verma, an import from the Samajwadi Party, as the OBC face in UP and gave him a free hand in selecting Congress candidates in the region, leading to some rather high-pitched dissent that might hit the party. The Congress hopes the important Kurmi vote is in the bag with Mr Verma on its side. The Rahul Gandhi strategy also includes playing on a perceived upper caste disenchantment with Mayawati. That is one area where the BJP will also be looking to regain lost ground. Then there is the Dalit vote, which Mayawati - anti-incumbency wave or not - holds on to firmly. Mayawati is also trying to invoke Dalit pride by playing injured at the statues of Dalit leaders and the giant stone elephants in her parks being covered by the election commission.
5) The Rahul factor: Rahul Gandhi has worked hard in this region; he has been very visible, held many rallies, visited homes of Dalits. Being an aggressive early mover should work to his advantage as will the canny use of the Congress' rule at the Centre to get packages like the one for weavers in UP, the Bundelkhand package, the sub quota for backward Muslims et al.
6) Mayawati magic? The BSP's appeal to the electorate is based on the Mayawati magic - the party is seeking votes for her as CM. The BSP's Dalit vote is intact but the upper caste support of last time is slipping and the Muslim support that the party had managed to wrest from the Samajwadi Party has been significantly dented by Rahul Gandhi's overt wooing. Mayawati battles anti-incumbency and the BSP's image has been badly hit by corruption, something that the CM has been scrambling to address over the past many months by sacking minister after tainted minister and patting herself on the back for it.
7) Akhilesh Yadav: Rising son: In this battle for Uttar Pradesh, the Samajwadi Party cannot be discounted just yet. Mulayam Singh Yadav too is pulling out all stops to regain what his party once had. UP 2012 has seen the son rising - Akhilesh Yadav is the face of the party this time as it tries to shed its "lawless" tag. With the educated, suave younger Yadav at the helm, the Samajwadi Party is also shedding other things - like its public dislike of computers. This time the party is wooing the youth with promises of laptops among other things. In this region it will be counting on a consolidation of the Yadav vote after the 2007 drift. It may also split up the Muslim vote with the Congress and the BSP. It is still unclear who the party is projecting for CM - father Mulayam or son Akhilesh.
8) Candidates with criminal records: All claims of "clean politics" notwithstanding, more than a 100 of the 284 candidates in the fray for the 55 seats today have criminal records. The SP fielded 28 such candidates. The BJP and BSP were not too far behind with 34 candidates each with criminal records. The Congress had 15.
9) Money matters: In these 55 constituencies, Mayawati's candidates are the richest with average assets of Rs. 3.83 crore. The SP's candidates are considerably poorer at an average Rs. 1.74 crore. The Congress trails here too with an average Rs. 1.34 crore and even the Peace Party manages an average Rs. 1 crore. The richest candidate in the fray today is the BSP nominee from Colonelganj Ajay Pratap Singh, who has declared assets worth Rs. 12.08 crore. Chaudhary Ravindra Pratap of the Congress from Shohratgarh is a distant second at Rs. 6.56 crore and the BSP's Barabanki candidate Sangram Singh has seemingly moderate assets of Rs. 5.5 crore.
10) Tech savvy: The list of 12.57 crore voters for the first phase today is all online. You can search for voters, there are web photo voter slips, voter slips can be got through SMS, there is a toll free helpline in addition to a helpdesk at polling stations. Yes, this is UP 2012.
At stake today, were more than just the 55 seats. This is a prestige battle. Here are 10 must-know facts about UP phase 1:
1) Voter turnout: Heavy rain early this morning ensured that only the very committed voter came out to vote then; at some booths across the Terai region there were no voters. Dalit voters were most prominent among those that braved the inclement weather and analysts said more the rain, more advantage to Mayawati. But the rain did stop, the number of voters out did swell and a 62 per cent voter turnout was recorded by the end of polling.
2) The numbers game: Polling was held in Sitapur, Barabanki, Faizabad, Ambedkar Nagar, Bahraich, Shravasti, Balrampur, Gonda, Siddharth Nagar and Basti districts amid tight security. Of the 55 seats, Mayawati's BSP holds 32. The Samjawadi Party, which lost power to Mayawati in 2007, had won 16 seats then. The Congress and the BJP were nowhere in the reckoning with four and three seats respectively. In the 2009 General Elections, the Congress, led by Rahul Gandhi made strong inroads into the BSP bastion. Of the Lok Sabha seats in these 10 districts, it had won seven; the BSP got just five, the SP two and the BJP none.
3) The Muslim vote: There is a significant Muslim vote in this region, which is also Other Backward Classes (OBC) and Dalit dominated. How the Muslims voted would be watched keenly - in UP overall Muslims are 18 per cent of the voting population. The Congress has overtly wooed Muslim voters with the promise of the sub-quota for backward Muslims and a big financial package for weavers. Right now, analysts say, it seems to enjoy most-favoured status with this vote bank. But there is Mayawati and the Samjawadi Party too is making a renewed claim for what was its major support base till Mulayam Singh Yadav shook hands with Kalyan Singh, a former BJP man and associated strongly with the Ram Mandir movement. The SP hopes the Muslim voter will return now that the Kalyan Singh association has ended.
4) The Caste Cauldron: In Uttar Pradesh, caste and community considerations in deciding political fortunes are a basic reality. So the Congress brought in Gonda MP and Union Minister Beni Prasad Verma, an import from the Samajwadi Party, as the OBC face in UP and gave him a free hand in selecting Congress candidates in the region, leading to some rather high-pitched dissent that might hit the party. The Congress hopes the important Kurmi vote is in the bag with Mr Verma on its side. The Rahul Gandhi strategy also includes playing on a perceived upper caste disenchantment with Mayawati. That is one area where the BJP will also be looking to regain lost ground. Then there is the Dalit vote, which Mayawati - anti-incumbency wave or not - holds on to firmly. Mayawati is also trying to invoke Dalit pride by playing injured at the statues of Dalit leaders and the giant stone elephants in her parks being covered by the election commission.
5) The Rahul factor: Rahul Gandhi has worked hard in this region; he has been very visible, held many rallies, visited homes of Dalits. Being an aggressive early mover should work to his advantage as will the canny use of the Congress' rule at the Centre to get packages like the one for weavers in UP, the Bundelkhand package, the sub quota for backward Muslims et al.
6) Mayawati magic? The BSP's appeal to the electorate is based on the Mayawati magic - the party is seeking votes for her as CM. The BSP's Dalit vote is intact but the upper caste support of last time is slipping and the Muslim support that the party had managed to wrest from the Samajwadi Party has been significantly dented by Rahul Gandhi's overt wooing. Mayawati battles anti-incumbency and the BSP's image has been badly hit by corruption, something that the CM has been scrambling to address over the past many months by sacking minister after tainted minister and patting herself on the back for it.
7) Akhilesh Yadav: Rising son: In this battle for Uttar Pradesh, the Samajwadi Party cannot be discounted just yet. Mulayam Singh Yadav too is pulling out all stops to regain what his party once had. UP 2012 has seen the son rising - Akhilesh Yadav is the face of the party this time as it tries to shed its "lawless" tag. With the educated, suave younger Yadav at the helm, the Samajwadi Party is also shedding other things - like its public dislike of computers. This time the party is wooing the youth with promises of laptops among other things. In this region it will be counting on a consolidation of the Yadav vote after the 2007 drift. It may also split up the Muslim vote with the Congress and the BSP. It is still unclear who the party is projecting for CM - father Mulayam or son Akhilesh.
8) Candidates with criminal records: All claims of "clean politics" notwithstanding, more than a 100 of the 284 candidates in the fray for the 55 seats today have criminal records. The SP fielded 28 such candidates. The BJP and BSP were not too far behind with 34 candidates each with criminal records. The Congress had 15.
9) Money matters: In these 55 constituencies, Mayawati's candidates are the richest with average assets of Rs. 3.83 crore. The SP's candidates are considerably poorer at an average Rs. 1.74 crore. The Congress trails here too with an average Rs. 1.34 crore and even the Peace Party manages an average Rs. 1 crore. The richest candidate in the fray today is the BSP nominee from Colonelganj Ajay Pratap Singh, who has declared assets worth Rs. 12.08 crore. Chaudhary Ravindra Pratap of the Congress from Shohratgarh is a distant second at Rs. 6.56 crore and the BSP's Barabanki candidate Sangram Singh has seemingly moderate assets of Rs. 5.5 crore.
10) Tech savvy: The list of 12.57 crore voters for the first phase today is all online. You can search for voters, there are web photo voter slips, voter slips can be got through SMS, there is a toll free helpline in addition to a helpdesk at polling stations. Yes, this is UP 2012.
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