In Uttar Pradesh politics, the BJP has formulated a strategic plan to strengthen its hold on the Muslim vote bank ahead of the upcoming 2027 assembly elections. The Muslim community, considered the backbone of the Samajwadi Party (SP), voted heavily—approximately 80-85%—in the 2022 assembly and 2024 Lok Sabha elections, causing significant losses for the party. Even attempts using Shia, Sufi, and Pasmanda cards failed, leading the BJP to decide on ground-level action in Muslim-majority areas. The party is using the Panchayat elections as a foundation, with the aim of laying a b base for the 2027 elections through initial groundwork.
Minority Front is Preparing a Muslim Data Bank
The BJP's preparations are underway under the Minority Front. State President Kunwar Basit Ali has begun identifying villages in UP from every district, where Muslim heads and BDC members have been consistently elected. Out of 57,695 gram panchayats, Muslim heads have been continuously elected in approximately 7,000 panchayats, and the Muslim community has also held sway in over 8,000 BDC members. The party is now identifying reliable candidates from these areas, faces who are anti-SP, align with the party's ideology, and are active in local politics.
BJP's Growing Footprint from Panchayats
The BJP's objective is not just to win panchayat elections but also to strengthen local leaders and candidates and connect them with future politics. Besides assisting these candidates in electoral work, the party is also connecting them with local MLAs and MPs so that they have administrative support and government schemes can be easily made available to their villages. This will likely increase their influence and strengthen the BJP's presence in rural areas.
Basit Ali says that earlier, two factions—SP and BSP—were dominant in Muslim-majority villages. But now that the BSP has weakened, the BJP is trying to gain access in these places, so that Muslims can get a b political alternative and their proximity with the BJP increases.
Preparing the Path for 2027
This strategy is not just about focusing on panchayats but is also the beginning of preparations for 2027. The BJP believes that when these Muslim leaders are established as panchayat heads and BDC members, they will not only have access to local government schemes but will also bring about a change in the Muslim vote bank on a mental level. This will strengthen the BJP in Muslim areas in the next assembly elections.
This step by the party is sending a clear message—the BJP is no longer going to be limited to the Hindu vote bank but is preparing to make inroads into the SP's b Muslim voter base. Doing this groundwork at the local level through the panchayat elections could be a big blow to the SP. If this experiment is successful, the BJP could bring about huge changes in Muslim-majority areas in the 2027 politics.
The BJP's strategy is not a conspiracy aimed at changing the Hindu-Muslim equations but a direct effort to build its support base in Muslim-majority areas as part of the democratic process. The aim of giving permission to local leadership by associating with the panchayat elections seems to make the electoral contest in the SP's core vote bank more interesting. Now it remains to be seen whether this triangle strategy will establish BJP's trust in Muslim-majority areas, or if the SP will once again strengthen and give signs of a breakthrough.
