Voters will deliver a mid-term verdict on PM Modi and the BJP in first big election after the notes ban – the move that wiped out 86 per cent of the currency in circulation.
The demonetisation move, launched by PM Modi three months ago to purge the economy of untaxed income and proceeds of crime and corruption, has disrupted daily life and commerce, and caused the economy to slow.Prominent contestants include Pankaj Singh (Noida seat), son of Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Pradeep Mathur (Mathura) against whom BJP spokesman Srikant Sharma is in fray, Mriganka Singh (Kairana), daugther of BJP MP Hukum Singh and controversial BJP MLAs Sangeet Som and Suresh Rana – Sardhan and Thanabhawan respectively.
Elaborate security arrangements have been made in all districts. District Election Officer DK Singh said out of 887 polling centres in riot-scarred Muzaffarnagar, around 600 are critical where video cameras will be installed to maintain the strict vigil.
Around 6,000 paramilitary personnel are being deployed in all the 887 polling centres in Muzaffarnagar and neighbouring Shamli to instill a sense of fearlessness among voters, especially with focus on the areas which had witnessed communal riots in 2013.
In Uttar Pradesh – where people tend to vote along traditional caste and religious lines, and successive governments have exploited communal divisions to fire up their base and poach voters from opponents.
The complexity of such “vote-bank” politics makes it hard to predict outcomes in India’s first-past-the-post electoral system. Any party polling significantly over 30 percent of the vote can win by a landslide.
