It has been 19 days since the elections for the 18th Lok Sabha were announced in the country but apart from BJP no party is visible on the campaign trail till now in Uttar Pradesh.
While barely a fortnight is left for the first phase of polling on eight seats of UP on April 19, neither senior party leaders of the Samajwadi Party nor of Congress were campaigning for their respective candidates.
The nomination process ended on Thursday for the second phase of polls for eight seats.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has already started an election rally from Western UP on March 31 from Meerut. Now, he is again coming to Saharanpur on April 6.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Jayant Singh were in Muzaffarnagar on Wednesday. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is holding Prabudh conferences in the districts and has already covered more than 10 districts so far. Deputy Chief Ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brijesh Pathak were also visiting the districts.
RLD chief Jayant Chaudhary is also holding rallies daily. But it is a rival of the INDIA alliance till now as no one has any official information as to when the Opposition parties, especially the Samajwadi Party and Congress, will start campaigning.
There is an alliance of the Samajwadi Party and Congress in the state. The SP is contesting 63 seats and Congress on 17 seats. In the first and second phases of elections, the Samajwadi Party is contesting 14 seats and Congress on two seats. Congress has the seats of Saharanpur and Amroha. There are Samajwadi Party candidates the remaining seats.
From the opposition’s point of view, the campaign has been lackluster so far.
SP President Akhilesh Yadav is still busy finalising the candidates. Many candidates have been changed and there is bickering within rank and file in several constituencies going to polls in the first two phases.
At the same time, Congress is contesting the elections on only two Lok Sabha seats. The big question is whether Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi, or other star campaigners of Congress would come to campaign on other seats or not. If they do come, when will they come? It has not been decided as yet.
The INDIA candidates are eagerly awaiting Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav to come together to hit the campaign trail. The campaigning for the first phase will come to a close on April 17 at 5 pm. In such a situation, meetings will have to be held in the first phase districts of Saharanpur, Muzaffarnagar, Baghpat, Bijnor, Nagina, Moradabad, Rampur and Pilibhit.
On the other hand, a campaign of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) will also gain momentum only after Eid. Party chief Mayawati and her successor Akash Anand will start campaigning on April 14. Mayawati will first hold a rally in Bijnor and then in Saharanpur. By the time the Opposition starts campaigning for the first round, the BJP will have conveyed its message to a large section of the people.