Even as the Samajwadi Party (SP) only came in second to the BJP in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly election, the SP's western UP ally, the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), emerged with a crucial performance. File Even as the Samajwadi Party (SP) only came in second to the BJP in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly election, the SP’s western UP ally, the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), emerged with a crucial performance. RLD fielded candidates in 33 seats in alliance with SP, and managed to win eight seats. As per Election Commission (EC) figures till 8 pm, the RLD had nearly 3 per cent vote share. It has also emerged as the fourth largest party in the state ahead of Congress and BSP.
In the 2007 UP Assembly elections, RLD had managed to win 10 seats, and followed it up with nine seats in the 2012 elections. Since then, however, RLD has suffered crushing blows, with the late Ajit Singh — father of current party president Jayant Chaudhary — losing in parliamentary elections held following the Muzaffarnagar riots. The riots paved the way for rising differences between Jats and Muslims in the region, and western UP residents say Jat communities and khaps remained angry with Ajit Singh since then, which further impacted the party as a whole.
The party was reduced to just one seat in the 2017 Assembly elections, getting a vote share of just around 1.5 per cent.
In May last year, Ajit Singh died after testing positive for Covid-19, and Jayant was appointed party president. Jayant then held meetings with voters and leaders in western UP in an attempt to gain lost ground ahead of the Assembly elections. The SP-RLD alliance was announced in December last year.
However, from 2020 itself, Jayant’s position as a leader of the RLD was on the rise. That started with his visit to Hathras to meet the victim of a gangrape. He was lathi-charged by police during his visit, and images from the incident mobilised support within RLD cadres.
When the farmers’ protests began at the Delhi border, Jayant raised the issue aggressively in western UP. Massive rallies and mahapanchayats were organised in support of the farmers, primarily Jats, in which he attacked the government on the issues of farm laws and sugarcane dues. Thousands of people took part in gatherings organised by the RLD, and many came to view Jayant as the spitting image of his grandfather, Chaudhary Charan Singh, who was one of the most influential farmer leaders in the country.
With the central government going back on the farm laws, Jayant claimed moral victory, further cementing his image as farmers’ leader.
As the SP-RLD alliance began campaigning in western UP, crowds gathered in large numbers to see Jayant alongside SP leader Akhilesh Yadav.
When the results came out on Thursday, RLD’s Ashraf Ali defeated state sugarcane development minister Suresh Rana in Thana Bhawan constituency. RLD also managed to win Shamli and three seats in Muzaffarnagar district — Puraqazi (SC), Budhana and Meerapur — which have a significant Jat population, hinting at vote consolidation.
The party also benefitted from Muslim support, as Ghulam Mohammad, an SP leader who fought on RLD ticket, won from Siwalkhas, the constituency of Chaudhary Charan Singh. This is the same region where differences in the alliance emerged after the ticket was not given to a local RLD candidate.
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