BJP Launches Major Political Offensive in UP, Six Statewide Marches Planned Amid Row Over Voter List Revision

LUCKNOW: The political contest over the revision of electoral rolls is set to move into the streets of Uttar Pradesh, with the BJP preparing an extensive campaign to strengthen its position ahead of the next Assembly elections.

The party has drawn up a three-day programme of public mobilisation, assigning six major marches to its organisational units and involving some of its most prominent leaders.

The exercise reflects the BJP’s determination not to allow the Opposition to dominate the debate surrounding the Election Commission and the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists.

With the INDIA bloc preparing to demonstrate its strength at Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan, the ruling party is planning its own counter-offensive through rallies, public contact programmes and coordinated demonstrations across Uttar Pradesh.

The campaign will begin on November 3 and conclude on November 5. Apart from the six principal marches, the party intends to hold approximately 200 meetings involving young people and organise gatherings with farmers.

The broader nationwide initiative also includes demonstrations under the banner ‘Loktantra Bachao, Arajakta Hatao’. BJP national president Nitin Nabin participated in one such programme in Haryana’s Rohtak on Sunday.

Uttar Pradesh has been given a particularly prominent place in the exercise because of its electoral importance.

The blueprint was discussed and approved during the party’s recent state executive meeting in Lucknow. Rather than concentrating the activity in one or two major cities, the BJP has decided to activate all six of its regional organisational structures.

Yogi, Nadda and Chouhan among leaders assigned major programmes

The leadership deployment indicates the importance the party attaches to the exercise. On November 3, Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan will be in Lucknow for the Awadh region’s programme, while J P Nadda will participate in the corresponding event in Bareilly for the Braj region.

The following day, the BJP’s organisational network will be activated in eastern and central Uttar Pradesh. Nitin Nabin has been assigned the Gorakhpur programme, while Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya will lead the Kashi region’s event in Prayagraj. Kanpur will host the march for the Kanpur-Bundelkhand region, with Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak at the forefront.

The campaign will reach western Uttar Pradesh on November 5, when Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is scheduled to lead the programme in Ghaziabad.

The party leadership has set an ambitious participation benchmark: each regional unit is expected to assemble at least 25,000 people.

The marches will involve party office-bearers, elected representatives and workers walking together over a route of at least one kilometre.

A senior BJP leader described the initiative as an answer to the Opposition’s recent street protests.

Party strategists believe that a substantial turnout in different parts of Uttar Pradesh would help demonstrate their organisational strength and challenge the Opposition’s claim that public dissatisfaction with the government is growing.

BJP questions Opposition’s projection of protest gatherings

The BJP is also seeking to turn the size of political gatherings into a subject of public debate.

A senior functionary alleged that demonstrations held by the Cockroach Janta Party and Opposition groups in Delhi had attracted relatively modest participation, despite being presented on social media as a major expression of public anger against the NDA government.

The party representative contrasted those gatherings with the scale of mobilisation the BJP hopes to achieve in Uttar Pradesh.

Referring to the INDIA bloc’s proposed Ramlila Maidan rally, the functionary estimated its attendance at approximately 50,000 and claimed that the BJP’s regional programmes would draw larger numbers.

The party intends to use these events to project support for its political leadership and policies. However, the anticipated attendance figures are BJP projections and have not yet been established.

The campaign also has a wider electoral dimension. With the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls approaching, the BJP is keen to counter the sustained criticism being directed at the Election Commission by the Samajwadi Party and Congress.

The two Opposition parties have made the functioning of the poll body and the SIR exercise prominent issues in their political campaign.

The BJP is considering taking the mobilisation effort beyond the three-day programme. Party sources indicate that district-level activities could follow, allowing the campaign to reach smaller towns and local constituencies.

Party takes its SIR defence beyond political rallies

Alongside the street campaign, the BJP has begun preparing material to explain and defend the electoral roll revision process.

Its publication, Kamal Jyoti, has produced a four-page document setting out the party’s response to allegations surrounding SIR. The pamphlet was handed to members of the Uttar Pradesh state executive committee on October 30.

The document seeks to challenge several arguments raised by the Opposition. On the question of decision-making within the Election Commission, the BJP disputes the suggestion that the process is controlled by a single individual.

Its pamphlet maintains that directions concerning SIR were approved collectively by all three Election Commissioners.

The party has also taken issue with the figure of 13 crore names allegedly removed from voter lists. Its explanation is that the entries in question included deceased individuals, people who had permanently moved elsewhere, voters who could not be located, and duplicate registrations.

The BJP argues that such deletions should not be equated with the removal of an equal number of genuine voters.

Another issue addressed in the publication concerns the alleged connection between deletion from electoral rolls and the loss of government-related facilities.

The BJP rejects the contention that removal of a name automatically results in the cancellation of ration entitlements, pension payments or passport facilities.

To reinforce its argument, the party has drawn attention to the history of electoral roll revision exercises.

The pamphlet states that 10 of the country’s 12 SIR exercises took place when Congress-led governments were in office. It also refers to the Congress losing 56 Assembly elections between 2014 and 2025.

Kerala has been cited as another example in the BJP’s argument. According to the party, Congress managed to win the election there this year even after the SIR exercise had been conducted.

With its three-pronged approach of street mobilisation, organisational outreach and a publicity campaign, the BJP is attempting to reshape the debate over electoral roll revision.

The coming days will test whether its strategy can match the Opposition’s campaign and translate the party’s organisational machinery into a visible show of public support.