The poll battle is expected to be tough in western UP. For the first time, Jat leader Ajit Singh is in the fray with no ally while the Congress has the support of Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Mahendra Singh Tikait. The BJP has lost ground in almost a dozen seats where its sitting legislators or strong contestants have joined other parties while the SP is facing a major threat from its own men.

Out of 58 seats in 10 districts, 23 are Muslim dominated. But the SP is facing an uphill task, with three of its MPs posing an internal threat. In Muzaffarnagar, its MP Sahfiqur Rehman Warq has been campaigning for the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), which has given a ticket to his son from the city seat. It is a similar case with Munnawar Hasan, who is supporting brother Mehmood Hasan, also contesting on an RLD ticket. Munnawar is SP MP from Mordabad and was once considered close to Mulayam.

In Saharanpur, too, Mulayam loyalist Rasheed Masood has been campaigning for son Mohammad Masood and even shared the dais with Ajit Singh. Even the lone Muslim face in SP, Azam Khan, is not happy with the ticket distribution and has announced that he would not campaign for his own party candidate Nawab Kazim from Swar Tanda seat in Rampur.

In the last election, out of these 58 seats, the RLD had won 9, the BSP and SP 18 each, followed by the BJP, which won 8 and the Congress 5.

... contd.