Will SP stick to its PDA commitment in MLC polls?

Lucknow: A day before the deadline for filing of nominations for the MLC polls, Samajwadi Party chose not to formally announce the names of its candidates till late on Sunday. The last date for filing of nominations for the polls is Monday.Elections are to be held for the vacancies created by 13 MLCs whose term will end on May 5. Going by the current strength of the political parties in the state assembly, the BJP and its allies will be able to secure 10 seats while SP will get three. BJP has already announced the names of its candidates. All eyes are now on SP to see if the party will stick to its commitment for PDA – Pichade (Backward Classes), Dalit, Alpsankhyak (Minorities).In the recently concluded Rajya Sabha elections, the SP brass faced a lot of flak for ‘not adhering to the PDA plank’ after it named Ramji Lal Suman and two upper caste candidates – Jaya Bachchan and former bureaucrat and state chief secretary Alok Ranjan. What made matters worse for the SP chief was that in the elections that followed, five SP MLAs cross-voted for BJP, three of whom were from the upper castes. Though the party has not formally announced names of the candidates, quite a few names are doing the rounds as likely contenders. A clear picture will emerge by Monday afternoon when three candidates will finally file their nomination papers. The list includes names of the likes of party national general secretary Kiran Pal Kaschyap, Mainpuri district chief and former MLA Alok Shakya, Shah Alam alias Guddu Jamali of Azamgarh who defected from BSP to join SP last week, party veteran from Azamgarh Balram Yadav, Krishna Patel of SP ally Apna Dal (Kamerawadi) and party state president Naresh Uttam Patel. Kiran Pal Kashchyap’s candidature is sure to help the party consolidate its position in Kairana Lok Sabha constituency where Ikra Hasan (30) is in the fray. Having served as the district president of Shamli several times, Kiran Pal was close to SP founder Mulayam Singh Yadav and was named as the national general secretary of the party in 2023. Three-time MLA from Bhogaon assembly constituency of Mainpuri, Alok Shakya happens to be an important Shakya leader of the region. He was nominated as the district president of Mainpuri ahead of the 2022 Lok Sabha bypolls necessitated by the death of sitting MP Mulayam Singh Yadav which Dimple Yadav won with a record margin of over 2.88 lakh votes. In Mainpuri Lok Sabha constituency, Shakyas form the second largest community after Yadavs which comprise 45% of the voters. Not surprisingly the BJP fielded Premchand Shakya from the constituency in the 2014 and 2019 polls. Two-time BSP MLA from Mubarakpur Shah Alam alias Guddu Jamali had formally joined SP last week and is a Pasmanda Muslim. Jamali had played the main spoilsport in SP’s victory in Azamgarh LS bypoll of 2022 where he bagged 2,66,210 votes. Dinesh Lal Yadav Nirhua of BJP won the election with 3.12 lakh votes, while SP's Dharmendra Yadav finished second with 3.04 lakh votes. Apart from these three, names of Balram Yadav, Krishna Patel, and Naresh Uttam Patel have also been doing the rounds. Balram Yadav is senior SP leader and former MLA and MLC. Krishna Patel is the president of Apna Dal (K). Naresh Uttam Patel is the SP state president whose current term in the council will expire on May 5.