With the 2027 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections just months away, the BJP has pulled out all stops for the October 23 legislative council polls, deploying chief minister Yogi Adityanath, state president Pankaj Chaudhary and state general secretary (organisation) Dharampal Singh to oversee and micro-manage its campaign on the ground.
In the biennial elections to five graduate and six teacher constituencies, 14,81,310 voters — 11,85,706 graduates and 2,95,604 teachers — are set to decide the fate of 152 candidates at 2,697 polling stations. Counting is scheduled for October 27, while the terms of the sitting members end on December 6. The polls are significant for the BJP as its a crucial electoral test in UP after the setback in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and an organisational test before the 2027 battle. Party strategists see graduate voters, including young professionals, as an important group to reach ahead of the 2027 assembly elections.
The party is therefore leaving little to chance. Several senior ministers have also been assigned constituencies to hold meetings with party workers and voters. They have been asked to camp in their allotted districts, meet district and mandal-level office-bearers and ensure contact with every graduate and teacher voter. Unlike assembly elections, the electorate for these MLC polls is limited and identifiable. Teachers, meanwhile, are influential in both rural and urban areas and can shape opinion beyond their constituencies. BJP leaders privately acknowledge that a defeat could give the Samajwadi Party and Congress an opportunity to argue that the BJP was losing support among educated voters ahead of the assembly elections.
“With 2027 elections just five months away, the state leadership does not want to send a negative message by losing MLC polls,” a senior BJP leader said. BJP national general secretary and UP in-charge Vinod Tawde was in Lucknow on Friday to review preparations, while the state president and state general secretary (organisation) were out campaigning, underlining the importance the party attaches to the elections.
