3 of its Lok Sabha poll names out, BSP candidates set to cut into SP, Congress votes

The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), which is contesting alone in the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls, has over the last couple of days floated the names of candidates for three western Uttar Pradesh seats — Saharanpur, Amroha and Moradabad.

Crucially, all the three candidates belong to the Muslim community and might cut into the minority votes that the Samajwadi Party (SP)-Congress combine is hoping to gain.

At party events held in the three constituencies in the past week, the BSP told workers that Irfan Saifi was being fielded from Moradabad, while Mujahid Hussain and Majid Ali would contest from Amroha and Saharanpur respectively.

Saifi, who is an OBC Muslim, is currently the chairman of the Thakurdwara Nagar Palika in Moradabad district.

In 2019, the BSP had not contested from Moradabad, as the seat had gone to the SP in their alliance. The SP’s S T Hasan had a huge victory, winning by 97,878 votes.

This time, it is the SP and Congress which have an alliance, and Moradabad has been retained by the SP as part of the arrangement. The SP is yet to declare a candidate from the seat.

Hussain, who has been fielded from Amroha, is seen as belonging to a higher caste among Muslims and is a businessman, while his wife Bage Jahan is chairperson of the Dasna nagar panchayat of the Ghaziabad district. As part of its arrangement with the SP, the Congress is to contest Amroha.

The BSP had won the seat in 2019 by 63,248 votes. But its MP Danish Ali was suspended in 2023 for “anti-party activities”. Ali’s recent appearance at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra has fuelled speculations that he will be fielded by the Congress from the seat.

In Saharanpur, Ali, also an OBC Muslim and former zilla parishad chairperson, replaces Haji