In Agra reserved seat, a desire for BSP as BJP hopes to win seat fourth time

Less than 10 days to go for polling on May 10, the usual election buzz and animated discussions at street corners and tea stalls is missing in the Agra Lok Sabha constituency.

In this SC-reserved seat, Dalits make up around 30% of the 20.57 lakh voters, with nearly three-fourth of them Jatav Dalits, who appear to be still with the BSP, despite despair over its declining performance.

Despite this overwhelming base for it, the Agra Lok Sabha seat has been won the past three times by the BJP, with Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare S P Singh Baghel re-fielded by the party this time. Both the Samajwadi Party-Congress and the BSP have fielded Jatav Dalits from the seat – Suresh Chand Kardam and Pooja Amrohi, respectively.

Senior BJP leader Om Prakash points out that the support of Vaishyas, Brahmins, Punjabis, non-Yadav OBCs and a section of the Dalits has been helping the BJP win in Agra. “We have been winning mayoral polls since 1989, and won all the five Assembly segments under the Lok Sabha seat in 2022. Agra is our bastion,” he says.

In Basai Khurd, which falls under the Agra Cantonment Assembly segments, Akash Kumar, a Jatav, holds on to hope that BSP chief Mayawati will pull a trick and lead the party to victory in Agra. Akash, who talks of celebrating the recent Babasaheb Ambedkar Jayanti by cutting a cake and distributing it among children, says Mayawati can be CM again one day if upper castes and Muslims back her – as they did in 2007 when the BSP swept to power in Uttar Pradesh. “Only Mayawati raises our concerns while the BJP, Congress and SP are restricted to social media,” he says.

Like many others here, Akash regrets that Mayawati did not tie up with Bhim Army chief Chandra Shekhar Azad, who also