Assembly elections in the neighboring Uttar Pradesh are slated for next month and in wake of this, all political parties are on their toes to prepare for the battle. Even, in this regard, the political parties of Haryana have come in active mode as the Jat community constitutes a sizable chunk of the total vote bank in adjoining western UP. In wake of this, all political factions of Haryana either have fielded or will field their Jat stalwart in the UP elections for canvassing to woo the Jat voters to help their concerned parties over there.
It is pertinent to mention that the Jat community constitutes nearly 6-7% of the total population of Uttar Pradesh and makes a considerable 17% of the western UP population. The community has 130 seats across 26 districts under six divisions of western UP. In the last three elections held in 2014, 2017, 2019 Jats had voted for the BJP overwhelmingly and at a large scale. Above said 130 seats fall in six divisions of western UP with Jat dominance namely Meerut, Saharanpur, Moradabad, Bareilly, Agra, and Aligarh.
OP Dhankar, the BJP state president, and a Jat stalwart, is looking for the responsibility of canvassing in western UP on behalf of the party and has appointed at least two party leaders on each seat falling in western UP for canvassing. Besides, he continues to take each update regarding the canvassing every day. He is most likely to visit western UP himself ahead of the polls for canvassing in support of the BJP contestants.
Congress has already fielded its Rajyasabha MP Deepender Singh Hooda for canvassing and he is continuously involved in door-to-door campaigning in UP for the party candidates fighting elections after the Election Commission has imposed a ban on the conduction of rallies in view of the spread of virus. Besides, his father and the Congress stalwart Bhupinder Singh Hooda also had to canvas in western UP but he dropped the schedule after he tested positive for Covid-19 . Apart from this, several party legislators will be a part of door-to-door campaigning over there.
On behalf of the Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) an alliance party of the BJP in the Haryana government, Dushyant, a party leader, and the Deputy Chief Minister will canvass in support of the BJP in western UP. In this series, Abhay Chautala, an INLD legislator also has announced to campaign in support of SP-RLD alliance in the western UP.