UP Polls: Mayawati Failed To Consolidate Dalit-Muslim Vote In 30 Years; Opportunities And Challenges For Azad-Owaisi Pact

UP Assembly Election: Ahead of the much-awaited Uttar Pradesh assembly election, Chandrashekhar Azad's ASP and Asaduddin Owaisi's AIMIM announced an alliance on Thursday. While declaring Azad as the chief ministerial candidate, Owaisi stated that the alliance will raise the issues of the marginalized section. The alliance has the potential to surprise the major political parties, as Dalits and Muslims account for around 40 per cent of the total voters.

Significance Of Alliance

The alliance between the two parties is a major development, as both Azad and Owaisi have been vocal critiques of the larger political forces, including BJP, Congress, and Samajwadi Party. While Azad has been actively raising the issues of the Dalit community, Owaisi has been a prominent leader of Muslims in the past decade. The Dalits account for over 20 per cent and Muslims for around 19 per cent in the poll-bound state.

Mayawati's Unsuccessful Attempts

Mayawati, BSP supremo and former chief minister, tried to form a political equation by bringing the two communities together on numerous occasions. However, even at BSP's peak in the 2007 assembly election when the party won 206 of the 403 seats, the Mayawati-led party could only get 17.6 per cent votes of Muslims.

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Opportunity For Azad-Owaisi

However, Azad and Owaisi can change the script, as both of them have established themselves as the voice of the two communities over the years. In his speeches, Owaisi has reiterated that while the Samajwadi Party and Congress claim to be secular, they have not given the major posts to the Muslims. While Azad has been demanding additional reservation for the Dalits, Owaisi criticized the alleged atrocities against Muslims in the BJP government.

What Are Challenges?

The path for the newly formed alliance is not likely to be easy, as both parties have limited leadership and organizational presence in Uttar Pradesh. Earlier in the previous assembly election, both the AIMIM and ASP got less than one per cent vote share. Apart from this, Azad's party is only limited to the western districts and has not been able to establish itself as a pan-state party yet.

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UP Assembly Election

The assembly election in Uttar Pradesh is scheduled to be conducted in the early months of 2027. While the BJP-led NDA, under the leadership of CM Yogi Adityanath, would try to register a hat trick of victories, the INDIA Bloc, consisting of SP and Congress, is contesting to make a comeback in the power.