RLD Keen To Contest Three Seats In Uttar Pradesh Assembly By-Polls, BJP Can Give It Two At Max — Here's Why

The Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) is set to demand three seats from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to contest in the upcoming assembly by-polls for 10 seats in Uttar Pradesh (UP).

The BJP was expected to give RLD one seat of Meerapur (in Muzaffarnagar district) to contest as the seat was vacated on the election of RLD MLA Chandan Chauhan from here to Lok Sabha from Bijnor.

However, the Jayant Chaudhary-led party, buoyed by its 100 per cent strike rate in the Lok Sabha elections, wants to contest two more seats of Khair in Aligarh and Ghaziabad Sadar.

Since these seats were held by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the ruling party is unlikely to bow down before its junior ally.

The Khair assembly seat was vacated when Anoop Pradhan won the Lok Sabha election from Hathras. Similarly, the Ghaziabad Sadar assembly seat was vacated as Atul Garg was elected from Ghaziabad.

RLD believes that its Jat vote bank, combined with the votes of other communities based on its 'AJGaR' formula (ahir, anusuchit (SC-ST), agda (upper caste), Jat, Gujjar and Rajput) can help it win the seats.

Based on the Rajput ire that the BJP faced in the Lok Sabha elections, especially in western UP, the RLD claims that giving it the ticket will get both Jat and Rajput communities to vote for the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

Khair was last won by the RLD in 2012. BJP's Anoop Pradhan won the seat twice in 2017 and 2022. RLD was second runner-up behind Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) on both occasions.

However, since the party won nine assembly seats in 2022, the same as in 2012, it feels that it might repeat the feat in Khair. In Khair, the party won in 2007 as well but Satya Pal Singh was the candidate at that time.

While the BJP may consider letting the RLD contest Khair, the chances for the RLD to contest in Ghaziabad Sadar are minimal as the seat has not been won by the RLD even a single time.

The party did not even contest the election here in 2022 as it was in alliance with the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the SP fielded its candidate here. In 2017, it got even less than 1 per cent votes.

Ghaziabad has a good population of Vaishyas (trading caste) and the BJP is likely to field a Vaishya candidate. Jats, Brahmins and Rajputs also form a significant part of the Ghaziabad electorate.

RLD's national general secretary Trilok Tyagi and election convener of western UP Veerpal Rathi have said that the party has yet not decided where it will contest but the final decision will be taken by Jayant Chaudhary.