Lucknow, Jan 29 (TIWN) To firm up their alliance further, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav and Rashtriya Lok Dal president Jayant Chaudhary will address a joint rally in Muzaffarnagar on Friday.

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) president Mayawati has become the first to announce her party's poll campaign launch from Agra through a public meeting on February 2.  Major parties are finding it difficult to connect virtually with voters, especially in the rural areas where digital penetration is still not sufficient.  "Most voters in the rural interiors do not have smart phones and therefore do not access social media. Physical campaigning cannot be replaced with virtual campaigning at a short notice," said a candidate in Sultanpur.  The campaigning had been restricted after the election notification on January 8 when the EC banned rallies, public meetings and road-shows -- first till January 15 and then till January 31. 

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that was apparently well prepared for the situation, hit the streets first from January 21 onwards with door-to-door campaigning by several top party leaders. The top leaders of other parties are now planning a re-launch of their campaigns. 

The Samajwadi Party (SP) withdrew its physical campaigns after the January 14 event at the SP state headquarters in which the former BJP minister Swami Prasad Maurya and Dharam Singh Saini joined the party. The Lucknow police had filed an FIR and the ECI had issued a notice to the SP over the event.  SP spokesperson Abdul Hafiz Gandhi, said, "Our national president Akhilesh Yadav and the allies were doing intensive campaigning. The Vijay Rath Yatra was so successful that it became a talking point all over. But the SP and ally leaders withdrew from the campaign scene following the ECI's MCC and Covid guidelines. Also, in the meantime, we are busy strategizing in the war room. The campaign will resume as and when EC allows."