With the notification of the urban body elections, the election bugle has sounded in the state. For the BJP, the civic elections will be a rehearsal for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Therefore, the party will prepare the ground for the Lok Sabha elections only on the basis of body elections. The party has chalked out a strategy to fulfill the target of occupying all 17 Municipal Corporations, Municipal Councils of district headquarters and large Municipalities and Nagar Panchayats in the civic elections by giving an edge to the agenda of nationalism along with development and achievements.
In the 2017 urban body elections, the BJP had captured 14 out of 16 municipal corporations, 70 out of 198 municipal councils, 100 out of 438 town panchayats. This time the party has set a target of hoisting the flag in all the 17 municipal corporations. Along with this, a target has been set to capture all the big Municipal Councils and most of the Nagar Panchayats including the district headquarters.
In such a situation, it is a big challenge for the party to break the record of 2017 in the Municipal Corporation, to perform better than before in Municipal Corporations and Nagar Panchayats. 110 new Nagar Panchayats have been formed in this election. At the same time, 127 Nagar Panchayats and Nagar Palika Parishads have expanded. In such a situation, even if the body elections are to be held in the urban area, the message of its result will come from both the village and the city.
Experts believe that civic body elections are being held in the state exactly one year before the Lok Sabha elections. In such a way, from the candidate selection in the body elections to the election management and the results of the election results will affect the Lok Sabha elections. This is the reason why the government and the organization have made fortifications on every front.
The government has gifted thousands of crores of development projects in the districts before the election notification. At the same time, the organization has taken the issues of development and nationalism to the backward, Dalit, women, youth, farmers, business class in the districts through some program or the other. It is the effort of the government and the organization that by winning the civic elections, such an environment should be created which will be helpful in making the way to 2024 easier.
Will have to live up to the penetration in the backward
Samajwadi Party General Secretary Swami Prasad Maurya has been trying to turn backward and Dalit voters against the BJP for the last two months, sometimes under the guise of Ramcharit Manas and sometimes old slogans. In the controversy over OBC reservation before the civic elections, other opposition parties, including the SP, put the BJP in the dock. Since the 2014 Lok Sabha elections till now, BJP has been giving priority to the backward in all elections, government and organization.
The backward classes have also played an important role in keeping the double engine government intact by giving one-sided support to the BJP. Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, Water Power Minister Swatantra Dev Singh, Dharampal Singh, Chaudhary Lakshminarayan and several backward class ministers, BJP State President Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary, General Secretary Amarpal Maurya, Surendra Nagar, Satyapal Saini are also veteran leaders of backward classes.
In order to make inroads in the backward classes, the BJP has made a strategy to contest elections on more than 27 percent of the scheduled seats by giving tickets to the backward classes even on general category seats. The party does not want to breach the backward vote bank at any cost. BJP will also have to meet the test of hold among the backward vote bank in the civic elections.
Before the body, full force was put among the Dalits
The BJP has put its full force among the Dalits before the civic elections as per the decided strategy. The statistics of the 2017 civic elections show that the BSP gave a tough challenge to the BJP in the city government elections. In view of the present situation of BSP, the party has put all its efforts to attract the vote bank of BSP towards itself so that its advantage can be taken from the civic body elections to the Lok Sabha elections.
Under the Dalit Social Justice Week, programs are being organized to help Dalits from 6-14 April. In Kaushambi, Home Minister Amit Shah and CM Yogi Adityanath held a big rally in Kaushambi, the parliamentary constituency of former Scheduled Front President Vinod Sonkar. Many programs will be organized on the birth anniversary of Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar on 14th April.
On the other hand, from April 14 to May 5, a campaign will be run in Dalit settlements by the BJP SC Morcha. Under this campaign, it will be told among the Dalits that the SP had torn the bill for reservation in promotion. Congress never gave proper respect to Babasaheb. BSP supremo Mayawati also became the Chief Minister twice with the help of BJP.