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‘Development’ and the Mahagathbandhan in UP
With 80 Lok Sabha seats, Uttar Pradesh is easily the focus of political speculation and observation. This article looks at how the dynamics between various stakeholders are playing out in the campaigning and polls in the state.
Whatever the result of the 2019 general elections may be, a thrilling journey has just begun. For close observers of Indian politics and elections, this is a memorable experience. Uttar Pradesh (UP) is in focus, with 80 Lok Sabha members: 63 general seats and 17 Scheduled Caste seats. Thus, UP holds the keys to the gates of power in Delhi. This article looks at the various political actors and their interface during electioneering in the state.
To begin with, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies won 73 seats alone in UP, including all the reserved and minority-dominated seats, in the 2014 Lok Sabha election. This gave rise to two theories: that it is a victory of “development” over caste and other parochial identities, and that the Muslims in the state had supported the BJP. However, unit-level analysis revealed the story of the split vote in Muslim-
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