Uttar Pradesh: This Is Why BJP Chose Bahoran Lal Maurya For MLC

On 1 July 2024, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) announced that Bahoran Lal Maurya will be its candidate for member of the legislative council (MLC) by-polls in Uttar Pradesh. The decision was made public by the media in-charge of UP BJP.

Originally belonging to Badaun, septuagenarian Maurya is an established face in the party. During 1996-2002 and 2017-2022, Maurya served as an MLA from Bhojipura assembly constituency in Bareilly district.

Between 1996 and 2002, he became minister of state in finance and revenue.

Maurya is largely believed to have good command over gram panchayats in his constituency. His victory in the 2017 election is also attributed to this factor. However, in the 2022 elections, panchayats were not happy with him due to which he was beaten by Shazil Islam of Samajwadi Party (SP).

It is possible that Maurya again came face to face with an SP candidate for the MLC by-polls too.

The MLC seat belonged to Swami Prasad Maurya, an erstwhile member of SP. Swami had left the BJP to join SP before the 2022 assembly elections (AE). However, he lost his MLA bid after which SP sent him to the legislative council. In the build-up to the Pran Pratistha ceremony of Ram Mandir, Swami had termed Hinduism as a deception and business for a few.

SP, a party more inclined towards minority appeasement did not want to distance itself from the statement. Later, Swami found it troubling to coordinate with the party for the general election too and resigned from the party as well as an MLC.

BJP has shown astuteness in superseding one Maurya with another one. The party realises that it failed massively in gaining traction among other backward class (OBC) votes, especially non-Yadav ones in the general election.

On the other hand, Akhilesh Yadav used his Pichhda, Dalit, Alpsankhyak (PDA) card effectively, a strategy which he is looking to repeat in by-polls.

By fielding Bahoran Lal Maurya, the BJP is sending a message of inclusion to non-Yadav OBCs which are again tilting towards caste factors after the labharthi strategy of the BJP reached its plateau.

Maurya is expected to sail through as the outcome will be decided by the number of MLAs — the metric on which BJP is way ahead.