With an eye on the 2024 elections, the BJP develops plans to win all 80 seats and focuses on those it lost in the 2019 elections

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has begun planning a strategy to enhance its gains in Uttar Pradesh with a view on the general elections in 2024.

With 80 Lok Sabha seats—the most of any state—Uttar Pradesh is the most populous state, and winning it is crucial to ensuring power in general elections. It's a common misconception that UP is on the route to Delhi. The Varanasi Lok Sabha seat is also held by the prime minister, Narendra Modi.

In the UP, the BJP won 62 of the 80 seats in the general elections of 2019. Four Union ministers have been tasked with evaluating the BJP's strengths and weaknesses in each of these 14 seats as the party has now shifted its attention to them.

Bijnor, Amroha, Moradabad, Sambhal, Raebareli, Ghosi, Lalganj, Jaunpur, Ambedkarnagar, Ghazipur, Shravasti, Mainpuri, Saharanpur, and Nagina are the seats controlled by non-BJP parties in the state. Sonia Gandhi of the Congress holds Raebareli as one of these. Significantly, Smriti Irani of the BJP beat Rahul Gandhi in the 2019 elections in Amethi, a stronghold of the Congress.

Three Lok Sabha members of the Samajwadi Party represent Uttar Pradesh, including Shafiqur Rahman Barq and Dimple Yadav (Mainpuri) (Sambhal). In the state, the BSP has 10 Lok Sabha members.

What is the BJP's strategy?
According to a senior BJP official who spoke to PTI, "The party has entrusted four Union ministers—Narendra Singh Tomar, Annapurna Devi, Ashwini Vaishnaw, and Jitendra Singh—with the duty of evaluating the strengths, weaknesses, obstacles, and risks posed by the lost seats.

"These ministers evaluated these sectors in the preliminary phase and provided the party with a report. Amarpal Maurya, general secretary of the BJP's state unit, has been given permission to serve as a liaison between the (party) organisation and the administration on these 14 seats.

Tomar has been tasked with keeping an eye on Lalganj, Ambedkarnagar, Shravasti, and Rae Bareli, according to party insiders. Singh will be responsible for Mainpuri, Sambhal, Moradabad, and Amroha, while Devi will be in charge of Jaunpur, Ghazipur, and Ghosi. The evaluation of the Saharanpur, Nagina, and Bijnor Lok Sabha seats has been entrusted to Vaishnaw.

To win all 80 seats in UP, the BJP hopes.
Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary, the head of the UP BJP, delegated responsibility for winning all 80 Lok Sabha seats in the state to the office holders during the working committee's state unit meeting last month.

The BJP has begun arranging talks with the recipient groups of different programmes of the Center and state governments as part of its campaign to win the seats. Also, it has opened up communication with many facets of society.

After the extension of his term, BJP National President JP Nadda visited Uttar Pradesh on January 20 and spoke with notable members of society, ex-servicemen, and booth committee members.

Nadda will visit Western Uttar Pradesh, according to a party official, and other prominent figures, such as Union Home Minister Amit Shah, would also go to the seats that the party lost in 2019.

With regards to the polling places where our candidates did not do well in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Chaudhary said, "We are developing a discourse with the people by identifying such polling places via booth empowerment."

The BJP is also raising awareness of the government's initiatives and programmes for public welfare.

Election year 2019 political environment
The SP, BSP, and RLD together ran for Lok Sabha seats in 2019. The BSP came in second with 10 seats, followed by the Samajwadi Party with 5 seats, and the BJP and its ally Apna Dal (Sonelal) with 64 seats.

Raebareli continued to be the Congress' stronghold.

The BJP took over the Samajwadi Party's strongholds of Azamgarh and Rampur in the Lok Sabha by-elections conducted last year.

Unfortunately, the saffron party was unable to win the Mainpuri Lok Sabha seats, which were decided by by-elections when SP founder Mulayam Singh Yadav passed away. Dimple Yadav, Mulayam Singh Yadav's daughter-in-law, was successful in keeping her seat.

Given that Uttar Pradesh has 80 Lok Sabha seats, the election results are noteworthy.