What's at stake in UP phase 6 polls

The Muslim card played heavily by the Congress party will be at test on Tuesday, when the 67-state assembly constituencies go to poll during Phase VI of the seven-phased Uttar Pradesh election.

Four of the 13 districts witnessing the poll have a substantial Muslim population ranging between 25 - 39 per cent, while the remaining nine districts have 18-22 per cent Muslims.

Together with the Muslim card, the much talked-about clout of Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Ajit Singh with the next dominant Jat community is also bound to face a litmus test.

However, what was also bound to face a litmus test was the impact of Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi's sustained campaign in Bhatta Parsaul against acquisition of farmers' land in the thriving industrial hub of Noida and Greater Noida.

Evidently, the bulk of the Muslim vote is likely to get divided between the Samajwadi Party and the Congress-Rashtriya Lok Dal alliance, whose leaders have moved heaven and earth to woo back Muslims.

On the other hand, the ruling Bahujan Samaj Party is struggling to retain a chunk of the 35 seats its had won in this area in 2007, while BJP is banking upon possible polarisation of its traditional vote bank of hardcore Hindus as a reaction to the Muslim baiting by both Congress and SP.

About 2.11 crore voters were expected to caste their vote at 21,317 polling stations in 67 constituencies, spread across the districts of Saharanpur, Prabudh Nagar, Muzaffarnagar, Meerut, Baghpat (Ghaziabad), Gautam Buidh Nagar, Panchseel Nagar, Bulandshahr, Aligarh, Mahamaya Nagar, Mathura and Agra.

Even as this entire belt is notorious for its male chauvinism and their dominance, with as many as 93,91,585 women listed as voters, the phase has the highest number of women electors, besides some 712 eunuchs.

Each of the key players -- SP, Congress-RLD and BSP – made it a point to get their respective prominent Muslim faces go around the region. If SP was banking its hopes on Azam Khan, who belongs to Rampur in the neighbourhood, Congress was looking up to the magic of Rashid Masood, who had crossed over from SP to their side.

But it was Haji Yaqoob Quraishi, the BSP rebel (now with RLD), who wields more influence than others in this belt. And he was considered largely responsible for bringing Muslim in a big way to the BSP, which bagged as many as 35 seats in 2007.

Interestingly, Quraishi's brother Mohd Yusuf Quraishi was inducted into the Congress.

The scramble for the Muslim vote had led SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav to also award a ticket to the son-in-law of Jama Masjid Shahi Imam Maulana Ahmed Buklhari, who therefore came down to campaign for SP.

Prominent among the other leaders , whose prestige would be at state in this phase were former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and former Bharatiya Janata Party national president Raj Nath Singh, who was a sitting member of Parliament from Ghaziabad, BSP ministers  Ramveer Upadhaya and Laxmi Narain , RLD chief Ajit Singh's son Jayant Chaudhary, the Lok Sabha member from Mathura.

Bollywood star-turned Congress star campaigner Raj Babbar too had addressed several political rallies in parts of this region.