Lucknow: The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has whipped up the minority card prominently by fielding Muslims in five out of the seven mayor seats going to poll in the second phase on May 11.
Earlier, for the 10 mayor seats going to poll in the first phase on May 4, the BSP has fielded 6 Muslim candidates.
Out of the total 17 mayor seats in Uttar Pradesh, the BSP has given ticket to 11 Muslim candidates.
With tickets to the maximum number of Muslim candidates, the BSP chief Mayawati plans to win the support of the Muslim community in the civic polls as well as the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
After dismal performance in the 2022 Uttar Pradesh assembly election, Mayawati had stated that due to the desertion of the Muslim voters the BSP fared badly in the assembly election. The BSP polled 12% vote that constitutes its core Dalit supporters, she had said.
In the successive meetings held after the assembly election, Mayawati had called upon the Muslim community to support the BSP as her party is in position to stop BJP from grabbing power in Uttar Pradesh. She had directed the party senior leaders to open the door to Muslim community leaders and give sizeable tickets to the community in the local body election. Mayawati hopes that Dalit- Muslim combination will assist the BSP in gaining the lost ground in UP.
BSP mayoral candidates for the second phase poll are Archana Nishad from Kanpur Municipal Corporation seat, Hasmat Ali from Meerut Municipal Corporation seat, Shagufta Anzum from Shahjahanpur Municipal Corporation seat, Rammuurti Yadav from Ayodhya Municipal Corporation seat, Nishara Khan from Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation seat, Salman Shahid from Aligarh Municipal Corporation seat, Yusuf Khan from Bareilly Municipal Corporation seat.
For the first phase poll for mayor seat, BSP has fielded former Samajwadi Party MLA Saeed Ahmed from Prayagraj Municipal Corporation seat. Earlier, the BSP has announced to field Shaishta Praveen, wife of gangster turned politician Atiq Ahmad. After Shaishta was accused in the killing of Umesh Pal the BSP withdrew her candidature.
BSP has fielded Rukshana Begum for mayor post from Firozabad Municipal Corporation seat. Rukshana is wife of Smajwadi Party leader Mehboob Aziz. The BSP has fielded Shaheen Bano as its candidate from Lucknow mayoral seat, she is wife of BSP leader Mohammed Sarwar Malik who contested the 2022 assembly election on the BSP ticket from Lucknow North assembly seat.
The BSP had declared Khadija Masood as its candidate for Saharanpur mayoral seat. She is from family of BSP leader Imran Masood, who enjoys influence on Muslim community in the West UP. Raja Mohtaseem Ahmed is the BSP candidate from Mathura- Vrindavan Municipal Corporation seat. Mohammad Yamin is the BSP candidate from Moradabad mayoral seat.
Lata Valmiki is the BSP’s mayor candidate from Dalit dominated Agra municipal corporation seat.