BJP begins preparation for 2022 UP polls

Vibha Sharma
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, March 2 

Even before the first vote is cast in the upcoming elections to four states and a UT, the BJP is already preparing for its next mission—the Uttar Pradesh polls—the biggest electoral test of 2022.

Party president JP Nadda on Monday participated in several events and organisational meetings in his visit to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Lok Sabha constituency Varanasi. He also reviewed the progress of works related to the Kashi Vishwanath Temple Corridor.

Nadda was accompanied by senior leaders, including state party president Swatantra Dev Singh and the party in-charge of the key state Radha Mohan Singh. Addressing cadres, Nadda said the real strength of the organisation was its booth workers. He called upon state leaders to strengthen booths, disseminate the works of the Central and State government among people, be a part of their “happiness and sorrows” and help solve their problems.

Next year, key BJP-ruled states—Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand—are due for polls as well as the epicentre of the ongoing farmers’ agitation Congress-led Punjab. The western parts of UP, along with Punjab, will be the real big test of the BJP on the three Central three farm laws against which farmers of the region are agitating.

Amid the ongoing agitation, the BJP has a tall order to defend with 312 seats in the 403-member UP Assembly. The treasury benches of the Yogi Adityanath-led government have 324 MLAs. This is in direct contrast to the 2021 Assembly elections where apart from Assam, in the other three states and the UT Puducherry it currently has just four seats.

In fact, in two out of the five election-bound Assemblies (Tamil Nadu and Puducherry) the saffron party has “zero” seats. In Kerala, it has one seat Nemom and in West Bengal, three.