Reserved seats hold the keys to power in Uttar Pradesh

Milkipur (UP): The road to power in Uttar Pradesh goes through reserved seats. Past experience shows that whoever wins the maximum number of reserved seats in the state, goes on to form the government.

In Ayodhya, Milkipur is a seat in the reserved category and in 2017, the BJP won from here (the party went on to dislodge the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi dispensation).

A tiny village, Raunahi is just 100 km away from Lucknow. It is at this moment in the thick of a debate on the party the village will vote for. Elderly voters such as Ram Sumeran, 60, want to vote for the BSP, but youngsters, like Gaurav, want to vote for a change, and women are swaying towards the BJP because of free rations delivered during the pandemic.

The state has 86 seats in the reserved category -- 84 reserved for the Scheduled Castes (SC) and two for the Scheduled Tribes (ST). Data shows that in the last three elections, the party which won the majority of the SC seats, went on to form the government.

In 2007, BSP won 61, SP 13, BJP 7 and Congress 5 and others won the leftover seats. In 2012, SP won 58, BSP 15 and BJP three, while in 2017, BJP won 70 seats out of 86, eliminating all rivals and upsetting all equations.

The BJP has now shifted its focus on the reserved seats to garner as many as possible, even as the SP and BSP pursue their own separate strategies.

The BJP has deputed special observers for the reserved seats and has also fielded leaders such as Ramapati Shastri, a senior minister in the Yogi cabinet. The Congress, too, has put up Tanuj Punia, son of P.L. Punia, party In-charge of Chhattisgarh, from a reserved seat.

Election trends show that reserved seats have turned the tide and voted for change in the last three elections. Such is the importance of these seats that the SP has constituted a Baba Saheb Vahini to lure voters from the Scheduled Castes.

Bhola Singh, MP from Bulandshahr, says the BJP is going to win the maximum number of SC seats as it has worked for the welfare of the community. He too was elected from a reserved seat.