Uttar Pradesh: Up for grabs

The countdown to what may be the biggest political test before 2014—the assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, scheduled for May 2012—has begun. Seen in a schematic way, the equations are unchanged from the last edition in 2007. A four-cornered contest, with the fractured vote it implies, is what political parties in this high-stakes game have to contend with again. The ruling Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and its sworn adversary, the Samajwadi Party (SP), are the main players. The BJP and Congress are seen to be fighting for the third place, which could well be that of kingmaker should there be a hung verdict, a possibility political pundits never rule out in this kind of scenario.

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