Stung by the damage inflicted by the Samajwadi Party in the Lok Sabha elections last year, the Bharatiya Janata Party has embarked on an early exercise to weed out non-performing MLAs and field candidates based on their popularity and caste dynamics.
Crucially, the selection of candidates had become a bone of contention within the BJP ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. Unwilling to take any chances, the BJP has tasked Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to oversee the entire process instead of relying on its usual practice of tasking a few agencies for the audit, CNN-News18 reports citing sources.
The sources said that CM Adityanath has employed multiple agencies for the audit exercise which will be spread across all 403 Assembly constituencies in the state.
The questions that the exercise will seek answers for include, among others:
- How is the MLA perceived by the electorate?
- How was the MLA fund used for development in their area?
- How would voters rate their MLA in sorting their problems on a scale of one to ten?
- Why did the MLA win by a thin margin in the last election (if that is the case)?
- What is the track record of an MLA who has won once or twice?
- What are their chances of winning if fielded from the same seat again?
Based on the findings of the audit report, the MLAs would then be classified into three categories --A, B and C-- with A-category MLAs being the best performers and category C being the worst.
With an eye on stitching together pre-poll alliances with parties who command support from smaller caste groups in certain seats, the party has also tasked agencies with fetching data pertaining to the caste dynamics of each seat.
Notably, the Samajwadi Party, which pipped the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections and won 37 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats, has credited the Pichda, Dalit, Adivasi (PDA) formula for its stellar performance in the state.
The Bharatiya Janata Party was dealt a rude shock in UP in the Lok Sabha elections held barely months after the grand inauguration of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya. The party managed to win only 33 seats in 2024, down from 62 in the 2019 general elections, denying the BJP a clear majority in the Lok Sabha for the first time under Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Much of this Lok Sabha debacle was attributed to the BJP keeping CM Adityanath at a distance, even at the cost of leaving him considerably upset. However, the BJP choosing to give Adityanath a free hand this time also signifies his growing stature within the party.
The BJP is eying a hattrick in power in the UP Assembly under the CM Adityanath's leadership. The party had won 255 of the 403 Assembly seats in the state in previous elections held in 2022. The Samajwadi Party, on the other hand, was limited to 111 seats. Elections in Uttar Pradesh are slated to be held in 2027.
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