Assembly election: 4 major political parties at loggerheads for ultimate supremacy in battleground UP

Lucknow: The Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, who is also known as Netaji, will officially launch the party's election campaign with his first rally at Ghazipur on Wednesday. "All preparations for the rally have been done. The party is going to form government in the state again as it has done historic works," its state president Shivpal Yadav claimed, adding that Purvanchal (eastern Uttar Pradesh) has been the stronghold of Samajwadi Party (SP), reported PTI. The SP's election campaign was delayed due to the family fight and Mulayam cancelling the rally from Azamgarh to start the poll campaign. In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections SP had lost the seat to BJP candidate and now Union Minister Manoj Sinha by a small margin. Election in UP: The legislative assembly election will be held in 2017 for the 403 seats of the Vidhan Sabha in the Uttar Pradesh. The dates of the election are yet to be announced. In the last election in 2012, the Samajwadi Party won a majority and formed government in the leadership of Akhilesh Yadav son of party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav. Changes in electoral process in UP: The Election Commission (EC), in January 2016, published updated electoral rolls in all 403 assembly segments. In July 2016, for the 2017 Assembly elections, EC decided to increase the number of polling booths in Uttar Pradesh. New polling centres will be planned in the constituencies having more than 1,500 registered voters. Polling booths in six constituencies of Purkazi, Muzaffarnagar, Budhana, Khatoli, Charthawal and Midanpur to be raised from 1,769 to 1,819 booths. Political developments till now in UP: Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) From August 2016, BSP held series of ‘Sarvajan Hitay, Sarvajan Sukhay’ rallies starting from Agra. Mega rallies held in Azamgarh, Allahabad and Saharanpur. In these rallies, BSP supremo Mayawati attacked not only the misrule and Gundaraj of Samajwadi Party (SP), but also attacked Communal politics and Unfulfilled promises of achhe din by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Reportedly, BSP has given more than 100 tickets to Muslim candidates which is highest in UP till date. The party is mainly counting on Dalits and Muslims votes. In August 2016, four Muslim MLAs, the from Congress (Dilnawaz Khan, Nawab Kazim Ali Khan,  Mohammad Muslim Khan) and 1 from Samajwadi Party, Nawazish Alam Khan, joined BSP. It is speculated that Muslims may prefer BSP or SP or Congress in the upcoming elections but not BJP. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) On its part, BJP is trying to woo voters in Uttar Pradesh with Development agenda. The Prime Minister Narendra Modi is also holding rallies in the state. However, the face of CM candidate for the BJP is not decided yet. Samajwadi Party (SP) Samajwadi Party, on 28 March 2016,  released its first candidate list of 142 contestants. The recent family clashes may wrecked its image among voters. In June this year, CM Akhilesh Yadav undertook the seventh and last cabinet expansion. On November 3, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav has already kick-started the party's campaign with Samajwadi Vikas Rath Yatra . Indian National Congress (INC) The Congress party is being considered the weakest among the other four players. It has declared Sheila Dikshit as CM Candidate. However, the duo of Raj Babbar and Ms Dikshit may improve the condition of the party. Reportedly, Priyanka Gandhi is expected to take part in Congress rallies. Veteran leader Rita Bahuguna joshi's recent defection to BJP may impact Congress' outreach to the powerful Brahmin community of UP.