With Any Election in UP, New Parties Pop Up, Then Disappear Without Trace

There is something in Uttar Pradesh that happens during elections — before and after — new political parties are born at an alarming rate.

A majority of the parties that mushroom during elections tend to bask in reflected glory with names that sound suspiciously similar to established political parties.

These parties are registered but unrecognised with the State Election Commission.

For instance, there are parties with names that sound similar to the Bahujan Samaj Party. These include Bahujan Maha Party, Bahujan Mukti Party, Bahujan Kranti Party and Bahujan Vijay party.

A retired official of the State Election Commission, said, “Most of these parties are promoted by the main political parties so that they can get additional booth agents and additional vehicles in the name of these parties. Most of these parties with names similar to a bigger party, do not make an effort to popularise themselves. However, at times, such parties also damage the main outfit by creating confusion in the mind of the voter.”

The Samajwadi Party clones include Subhaswadi Bhartiya Samajwadi Party, Bhartiya Samajwadi Party, Naveen Samajwadi Dal, Sanyukt Samajwadi Dal and Rashtriya Krantikari Samajwadi Party.

Among the 127 registered parties with the UP State Election Commission, there are parties with names like Hi-Tech Party, Right to Recall Party, Adhi Abadi Party, Sabka Dal United, Vidhayak Dal, Log Party, Bahadur Aadmi Party, Apni Zindagi, Apna Dal, Islam Party and Gadar Party.

There are also parties with names having religious overtones like Hindu Ekta Andolan Party, Islam Party Hind and Ambedkar Kranti Dal.

However, candidates of these parties are nowhere to be seen in the ongoing municipal elections.

In the 2017 UP Assembly elections, the relatively unknown Pichhda Varg Mahapanchayat Party (PVMP) had contested the polls with the matchstick as its poll symbol.

The party claimed to have the support of OBCs “who have been betrayed by almost all parties” and said it will contest all 403 seats.

The PVMP failed to make any waves in the polls and its performance was not even worth recording.

The party vanished from the political horizon after that.

The Sarv Sambhav Party (SSP), headed by Bollywood actor Rajpal Yadav, met with a similar fate.

The SSP entered the poll arena in the state in 2017. “I have been training my two brothers in politics for over a decade, now they are ready to take a dive,” Rajpal Yadav had said at a press conference then.

The actor, however, admitted that his party may not win any seats this time, but said he was preparing for the next Parliament or Assembly polls. “Until the right time arrives for us, we will use social media to make our ideology reach the people,” he said.

Nothing was heard about the SSP or its leaders after that.

An SEC official said that the registration of political parties was often done with ulterior motives.

“The Election Commission should debar parties that register themselves and then do not contest elections or even get a specified number of votes. Many of these outfits make good money during elections by outsourcing their agents and vehicles. Strict action needs to be taken in cases of such parties,” he said.

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