New Delhi, Jan 3 (IANS): As various political parties are targeting different sections of people ahead of the coming Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, all eyes are on Brahmin voters to see who they will support.

The ruling BJP is eyeing these votes which have been polled by other parties in the past also.

The BJP has of late started to focus on the Brahmin votes which is around 13 per cent of the population and has been with the party but are said to be upset with the Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for extending favours to his Thakur community. The BJP has appointed D.S. Mishra as Chief Secretary and has given ministerial portfolios to Brahmin leaders in the state and in Centre.

One of the newest entrants to the BJP and state minister Jitin Prasada, who also is patron of Brahmin Chetna Parishad, said: "Brahmins will vote for BJP as only this party cares for the development of the community."

The Brahmins shifted to BJP after the Mandir movement in 1990s and later with Atal Bihari Vajpayee as undisputed leader of the community, but in 2007, voted for Mayawati. In 2012, their vote was split within all the parties but in 2014, 2017 and 2019 they seemed to have voted for the BJP.

Lucknow-based independent analyst Ratan Mani Lal said: "There is a perception that the Chief Minister is working against the Brahmins but there is no proof, and he is trying to woo the community. In eastern UP, the Brahmins have now got options. BJP, BSP, SP -- all the parties may lose some votes as many Brahmins have joined the SP but the choice can be at seat level also."

In 2017 elections, the BJP swept the polls despite the Congress and SP were in alliance and BSP contesting the polls separately. The Samajwadi Party is banking on the Mulsim-Yadav base along with the Brahmins while the BSP has its Dalit votes and trying to woo Brahmins as it did in 2007.

The Congress has not been able to work on any or all the caste equations and has focussed on the fairer gender and is trying to woo women and those upset with the BJP but don't want to go with the SP and the BSP.

In 2017, the BJP got 312 seats with 39.67 per cent polling 3,44,03,299 votes, which is the majority Hindu votes and the SP got 47 seats and 21.82 per cent with 1,89,23,769 votes. The BSP got 19 seats with 22.23 per cent and polling 1,92,81,340 votes, while Congress won 7 seats with 6.25 per cent votes and 54,16,540 votes. Independents got around 22 lakh votes which is quite significant.

The BJP is also eyeing the votes polled by the independents and smaller parties in the state elections. The BJP hopes into cutting the Congress votes and make inroads into the BSP votes, the reason being that last time Congress aligned with the SP and contested on less seats but got a chunk of SP votes while BSP contested on all seats.

The BSP vote bank has drifted towards the BJP as the BJP roped in leaders like Swami Prasad Maurya, Jugal Kishor and Dra Singh Chauhan who are influential in their community and managed a landslide win for the BJP. The BJP has alliance with Apna Dal and also with the Rajbhar's Party, SBSP which ensured added votes to the party.

In UP there are 14 crore votes and the BJP with its Hindutva push and social engineering is eyeing a comeback in the elections.