Septuagenarian Anil Maheshwari has been a journalist for about half a century. He superannuated as Special Correspondent of the Hindustan Times. His books include Aligarh Muslim University: Perfect Past and Precarious Present, Instant History: A Memoir, Taj Mahal: The Moon Still Shines (An Environmental Mess) and Crescent over Kashmir: Politics of Mullaism. He lives in Noida with his wife, two sons, two daughters-in-law, his granddaughter and grandson.
Nine of India’s 14 prime ministers have been elected from constituencies in Uttar Pradesh, the country’s most populous state and most complex political battleground.The road to Delhi is said to go through Lucknow. Hence, elections in UP are among the most hotly debated and closely watched political contests in the nation. With the UP Legislative Assembly elections scheduled for the first quarter of 2022, UP Elections 2022: More Than a State at Stake raises the all-important question: who will emerge winner in UP in 2022? How will this victory impact the general elections in 2024? In the 2017 Assembly elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) registered a massive win in UP, bagging 312 seats in the 403-seat Assembly. The Samajwadi Party (SP) won 47 seats and its ally, the Congress, only seven.The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) ended up with 19 seats, its worst tally ever. In UP Elections 2022: More Than a State at Stake, well-known journalist and political commentator Anil Maheshwari analyses the caste and religious factors that colour electoral outcomes while taking a hard look at the political alliances gearing up to wrest power back from the BJP. Teeming with insightful predictions about the future of UP, and by extension, the nation, this book is a must-read for those who are invested in Indian democracy.
