Amit Shah Set For Uttar Pradesh Outreach Push As BJP Steps Up Assembly Poll Preparations

Union Home Minister Amit Shah is expected to begin a broad outreach across Uttar Pradesh from the last week of November as the BJP steps up organisational preparations for the coming Assembly elections. A BJP source told ANI the proposed tour will span all six organisational regions of the state, with meetings planned with party workers and local leaders to tighten the organisation and energise the cadre.

The party is working on an initial schedule under which Shah would cover two regions in November before the exercise widens. The outreach is expected to grow beyond regional meetings in a later phase, with district-level interactions and public gatherings also being planned.

The broader context comes from media reports, which mapped the party’s six organisational regions and described separate campaign marches this month. The proposed tour is part of the BJP’s drive to strengthen its grassroots network, take stock of regional organisational problems and bring local leadership into tighter coordination as Assembly poll preparations pick up.

Regional Tour Plan

The BJP is considering overnight stays in each of the six regions so Shah gets more time with grassroots workers and regional leaders. The source said the idea is to deepen engagement rather than limit the visit to short organisational meetings.

Shah is also expected to hold detailed consultations with prominent leaders from each region. Those discussions are set to focus on election strategy, organisational coordination and how plans are being carried out on the ground.

The party is also preparing a programme of district-level interactions and public gatherings featuring Shah. That would take the outreach beyond regional review meetings and turn it into a wider campaign exercise across the state.

The Six Regions

Media reports from early November, identified the BJP’s six organisational regions in Uttar Pradesh as Awadh, Braj, Gorakhpur, Kashi, Kanpur-Bundelkhand and West UP.

Shivraj Singh Chouhan led the Awadh march in Lucknow. J P Nadda led the Braj march in Bareilly. Nitin Nabin led the Gorakhpur march in Gorakhpur.

Keshav Prasad Maurya led the Kashi march in Prayagraj. Brajesh Pathak led the Kanpur-Bundelkhand march in Kanpur. Yogi Adityanath led the West UP march in Ghaziabad. One report also listed state BJP president Pankaj Chaudhary at the Gorakhpur march.

BJP’s Past Performances

In the 2017 Assembly elections, the party won 312 of the state's 403 seats, securing a sweeping majority, and retained power in 2022 with 255 seats, despite a decline in its tally. Its performance in the 2022 elections demonstrated that it could retain a substantial portion of its support base despite anti-incumbency and a resurgent Samajwadi Party (SP), which increased its tally to 111 seats from 47 in 2017. The BJP also registered important victories in Assembly by-elections, including the 2022 Azamgarh and Rampur Lok Sabha by-elections, where it wrested both seats from the SP, signalling its ability to make inroads into constituencies traditionally associated with the opposition.

This momentum, however, suffered a major setback in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, when the BJP's tally in Uttar Pradesh fell to 33 seats from 62 in 2019, despite Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking a third consecutive term. Its vote share also declined from approximately 49.6 per cent to 41.4 per cent. The Samajwadi Party emerged as the largest party in the state with 37 seats, while the Congress won six as part of the INDIA bloc.

However, the party subsequently regained ground in Assembly by-elections, winning six of the nine seats contested in November 2024, with NDA ally Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) securing another. In February 2025, the BJP also won the high-profile Milkipur by-election, taking its tally to eight wins in the 10 Assembly by-elections held following the Lok Sabha results. These victories helped the party recover some of its electoral momentum under Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, even as the 2024 Lok Sabha verdict exposed vulnerabilities in its traditional support base.

(With ANI Inputs)