SP, BJP go all out for the OBC vote in U.P.’s Katehari

27-year-old recounts Mr. Verma's speech on employment issues, reservation, and OBC rights in Katehari constituency by-election.

Standing at a tea shop in Katehari Assembly seat’s Gora Basantpur village, Piyush Nishad talks about a ‘chaupal’ (community gathering) he just attended that was addressed by the area MP (Ambedkar Nagar), Lalji Verma, of the Samajwadi Party (SP).

The 27-year-old recalls bits of speech by Mr. Verma, a leader from the Kurmi community who won the Katehari constituency in the 2022 election before the Ambedkar Nagar Lok Sabha seat, pertaining to the employment issue.

“He shared specific data about the government jobs’ scenario. About reservation criteria not being followed in several employment-related advertisements, legal hurdles creating backlogs in vacancies, and how he has been raising these issues,” says Mr. Nishad to an audience of seven persons.

Mr. Verma’s campaign for his wife Shobhawati Verma, who has been fielded from the Katehari constituency by the SP, is based on the twin planks of reservation and unemployment.

The SP alleges that the right to vote of people from the Other Backward Classes (OBC) and SC communities is under threat and that the byelection is an opportunity for those from disadvantaged backgrounds to save democracy.

“The right to vote has been given to us by Baba Saheb Bhimrao Ambedkar. If they try to snatch our right, we will do whatever it takes to protect it. The BJP is doing whatever it can to weaken democratic structures,” said senior SP leader and party in-charge of the seat Shivpal Singh Yadav.

Katehari, which has a sizeable presence of OBC and Scheduled Caste voters, is among the nine Assembly seats in the State where bypolls will be held on Wednesday.