The ruling Bahujan Samaj Party and the Samajwadi Party face the maximum number of rebel candidates in the final phase of elections in Uttar Pradesh.
For both the parties, the final phase could be a make-or-break phase but rebel candidates are also causing considerable worry and the two parties are unable to assess the extent of damage these rebels could cause.
Six BSP legislators, including five sacked ministers, are in the fray in the final phase, either as Independents or on symbols of other parties after the BSP denied them tickets.
These former ministers are now promoting the anti-incumbency factor against the BSP by relating tales of “tyranny of the leadership and our own helplessness” in their meetings.
Former minister Anees Ahmad, alias Phool Babu, who was sacked on the recommendation of the lokayukta, is now contesting from Pilibhit on a Congress ticket while ex-BSP minister Avadesh Varma, who shot to fame when he sobbed bitterly on national television, is the BJP candidate from Shahjahanpur.
BSP MLA and former minister Shahzil Islam, who was denied the party ticket at the last minute, is now contesting the Bareilly seat as a candidate of the Ittehad-e-Millat council.
Akbar Hussein, a sacked BSP minister, is contesting from Moradabad as an Independent while Yeshwant Singh, also a sacked minister, is campaigning against the BSP after contesting from Meerut as an Independent.
BSP MLA Shahnawaz Rana is contesting the Bijnore seat on a RLD ticket after being denied one by the BSP.
In Badaun, the Samajwadi Party is facing trouble from a former colleague, D.P. Yadav, whose re-entry into the Samajwadi Party was stalled by the state SP president Akhilesh Yadav.
Mr D.P. Yadav, who is contesting on the banner of his own Rashtriya Parivartan Dal from Sahaswan in Badaun district, has also fielded over 40 candidates in the region.
“If the Samajwadis are banking on the Muslim-Yadav combination, we are also trying to impress upon people that a Yadav was humiliated by a party that claims to belong to Yadavs. The Samajwadis have happily opted for candidates with criminal history but have publicly humiliated D.P. Yadav and we will avenge the humiliation,” said Satish Yadav, a local supporter of Mr D.P. Yadav.