New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has fielded 250 Muslim candidates for the first phase of the upcoming Uttar Pradesh local body elections, or the nagar nikay chunav, that are being considered a semi-final before the Lok Sabha elections in 2024. For the first time, the saffron party has fielded a large number of Muslim candidates from Prayagraj, Varanasi, Gorakhpur, Lucknow, Jhansi, Agra and Firozabad.
Under its new strategy and with the main target being the Pasmanda community, BJP has given tickets to Muslim candidates in four wards in Varanasi, the parliamentary constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, followed by UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s constituency Gorakhpur.
While the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has fielded Muslim candidates for the post of mayor in six out of 10 municipal corporations, the saffron party has fielded candidates from the minority communities for Firozabad, Lucknow, Amethi Nagar Panchayat elections.
The BJP has also organised the Pasmanda Muslim Intellectual Conference on behalf of the Minority Morcha, followed by dialogue with Sufi saints.
According to Uttar Pradesh President of BJP minority wing, Kunwar Basit Ali, for the second phase too, there are many districts where BJP will nominate candidates coming from minority communities and the total number of Muslim candidates fielded for the Uttar Pradesh local body polls can increase to more than 400.
“If we talk about the last elections which were held in 2017, the saffron party had fielded around 100 Muslim candidates in the entire state, but this time, the BJP is focusing on the Pasmanda community and has fielded a large number of Muslim candidates,” Kunwar Basit Ali said.
It is to be noted that the local body elections will take place in two phases on May 4 and 11, with vote counting scheduled for May 13.
A total of 17 municipal corporations, 199 municipal councils, and 439 nagar panchayats will elect their new representatives. As many as 1,420 corporator seats, 5,327 nagar palika parishad member seats, 544 nagar panchayat chairperson seats, and 7,178 nagar panchayat member seats will be up for grabs. A total of 14,684 posts in the state will be contested.