Lok Sabha Election A Litmus Test For Mayawati-Akhilesh Yadav Alliance

Uttar Pradesh will vote in all seven phases from April 11 to May 19 in the national election. With the maximum number of seats, the politically vital state is set to host the most-watched election battle that will test an opposition alliance of bitter rivals Mayawati and Akhilesh Yadav, joining hands to take on the BJP, which scooped a colossal 73 seats in the 2014 election.

The route to power at the Centre is through Uttar Pradesh, and the BJP's sweep in the last polls was seen as the big chunk in its 2014 landslide; it was the first party to win a majority on its own in three decades.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was among the 71 BJP lawmakers who won in UP. The Samajwadi party won five, the Congress two and Mayawati's BSP won zero. The BJP followed up its Lok Sabha feat by ousting the Samajwadi Party in the state election in 2017.

This time, the BJP faces a resurgent opposition that has already bagged telling victories in recent by-polls. Two of those wins was particularly sweet for the opposition - the BJP lost two strongholds, including Gorakhpur, the home base of its star campaigner Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

The biggest takeaway from these polls for the opposition was that if Mayawati's BSP (Bahujan Samaj Party) and Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party team up, then beating the BJP is not impossible. Together, the two parties can potentially win over 40 seats. Along with the Congress, that could go up to 50.

The two announced their alliance for the national election in January, but delivered a blow to the opposition "gathbandhan" bonhomie by leaving out the Congress.

Days later, the Congress served its reply. The grand old party - for decades an also-ran in UP -- announced the debut of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra as its campaign in-charge for the state along with Jyotiraditya Scindia.

Priyanka Gandhi, the younger sister of Congress president Rahul Gandhi, had so far confined herself to Amethi and Raebareli, the constituencies of her brother and her mother Sonia Gandhi.

The Congress is banking on Priyanka Gandhi's charisma and connect - and striking resemblance to her grandmother Indira Gandhi - to improve its score in Uttar Pradesh. It managed to retain only the Gandhis' seats in 2014; anything more than that will be an improvement.

Confronting an aggressive opposition, the BJP has upped its game. Over the past few months, PM Modi has focused on UP and his constituency Varanasi. The party has managed to appease upset smaller allies like Apna Dal and Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party that had felt "neglected".

Yogi Adityanath and his government went all out to organize the Kumbh Mela, a massive religious gathering at Prayagraj that draws millions for a dip at the confluence of holy rivers. PM Modi and Yogi Adityanath led the legion of BJP leaders who took the holy dip.