UP: Why Akhilesh wants former J&K governor Satya Pal Malik to contest from Aligarh

Malik has earlier represented Aligarh in Parliament as Janata Dal MP from 1989-91 but lost the polls in 1996 (as SP candidate) to BJP’s Sheela Gautam.

Importance of Jat votes

Both Malik and Jayant belong to the Jat community, considered electorally significant in western UP. Also, both claim to be the flag-bearers of the legacy of Chaudhary Charan Singh, the first Jat farmer leader to become Prime Minister of the country in 1979, albeit briefly.

Jayant is Charan Singh's grandson and Malik claims he took to public life on being asked by the former PM to do so and was beholden to him for a long period of time.

Today, Jat votes are considered crucial to make a candidate win in not only Aligarh but over a dozen other Parliamentary constituencies spread across western UP. Jats account for a significant chunk of the population in 13 out of the 18 districts in western UP and are vocal and socially dominant.

Other communities like Jatavs or Scheduled Castes and Muslims also do matter in these constituencies. UP sends 80 members to Parliament, the largest among all the provinces spread all over the country.

BJP eyeing more numbers in UP

In the current Lok Sabha, now coming to an end, the BJP has a lion’s share from UP. The saffron party is trying to increase its numbers from this state further in the upcoming polls bolstered by the February 27 Rajya Sabha polls in UP.

Weeks before the RS elections, Jayant crossed over from SP and the Congress-led INDIA alliance to NDA, though the RLD leader’s move is yet to be formalised. He made this move after his grandfather was awarded the Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian honour of the country, by the Modi government.

SP woos Malik

Sources said that Malik was approached a few months ago by a former SP MLA from western UP, on behalf of Akhilesh Yadav, asking him to contest from Aligarh. Malik has represented the Aligarh constituency twice before. However, at that point, with the LS polls still some months away, Malik did not commit and had reserved his comments on the invitation.

Yet, the 77-year-old former governor has consistently been saying, after the end of his term as Meghalaya Governor in 2022, that he would actively campaign for candidates from the Opposition parties to defeat the BJP.

After the sleuths from Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) recently raided a few premises associated with him, he has renewed his attacks on the BJP through his posts on social media. He had done this even from his bed in South Delhi’s multispecialty hospital, where he had been convalescing because of his health issues.

SP insiders indicate that Malik has never been averse or outrightly refused the party’s offer. The Aligarh seat has so far not been allotted to anybody though 27 SP candidates have already been announced by the party. The other 17 seats have been given to the Congress in UP under the INDIA coalition.

SP's chances in Aligarh

Aligarh is not among the 17 UP Lok Sabha seats where Congress has to nominate its candidates. Thus, Aligarh, in a way, is being kept reserved for Malik by the SP, and the offer for him to contest from his old seat has also recently been made to him again. Both Malik and the party are purportedly weighing his chances of winning, say SP sources. They are anxious about the two lakh-strong Dalit electorate of the constituency, who are loyal to BSP supremo Mayawati.

In this situation, SP and Congress, however, have succeeded in bringing western UP’s Dalit leader Chandrashekhar Azad Ravan into the INDIA fold. He is likely to contest as leader of the Azad Samaj Party from a constituency that the coalition partners mutually agree upon. Azad will campaign in UP for INDIA alliance’s candidates in Dalit-dominated seats.

Currently, Malik and Azad are viewed as potential campaigners for INDIA (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance) candidates because of their mass appeal among voters from their respective communities.

Besides this, the two may contest from the constituencies the alliance selects for them after mutual consultations. But if case Malik expresses his inability to join the poll fray because of his age or for any other reason, the SP is keeping a second option open.

Other options

Sixty-seven-year-old Bijendra Singh is another former MP who won the Aligarh Lok Sabha seat in 2004 on a Congress ticket by humbling BJP’s Sheela Gautam. Singh later joined SP. He has also been a five-time MLA from Iglas, near Aligarh. He, too, belongs to the Jat community like Malik, and, according to SP insiders, can be a strong candidate from Aligarh in the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls.

Yet, the party is said to be keen on Malik’s candidature since his appeal among Jats, farmers and middle-class voters can well extend beyond the confines of Aligarh Lok Sabha constituency.

Malik has been a vocal critic of the Modi government on farmers, youth and J&K security related issues, including the 2019 Pulwama disaster that took the lives of 40 CRPF jawans. His YouTube interviews pointing to several lapses due to the Central government on security and other issues, have of late been going viral.

Malik has also been supporting Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, which got a huge public response when it recently passed through Aligarh on its way to Agra. Moreover, Rahul had once invited Malik for discussions in New Delhi on political and social issues and sources said they struck a deep bond and understanding.