Current assembly election is a "semi-final" for Prime Minister Narendra Modi

If these two most vocal leaders fail to deliver, the number of their detractors will only rise and the clamour for the change rise.

For Mayawati it will be a decider because she has faced a total rout in the state in the previous Lok Sabha election. All the 80 seats were won by the Bhartiya Janta Party, the Congress and the Samajwadi Party. Ninety per cent of them had gone to the former. Another point to ponder: she had bagged only about 20 per cent assembly seats in the previous assembly election and allowed the SP to form government in the state.

The party is giving a formidable challenge to the BSP after alliance with the Congress which had got about 11 per cent votes. The alliance has denied chance to the party to get a majority of Muslim votes.These votes are likely to be divided as also Dalit votes in the light of larger number of seats offered to Muslims.

Much will depend on her performance in the western part of the state where polling is underway. As many as 23 of the total 73 seats where polling is being held have Muslim dominance. In another 20 constituencies Dalits matter.If she is not able to garner most of these seats her position will become vulnerable. Past records have indicated that which ever party has won majority of seats in the region has done better in the assembly election in the state.

The on-going election is equally important for Rahul Gandhi. For, the party had bagged less than fifty seats in the Lok Sabha poll in 2014. About a year later there was assembly election in Bihar. The party was pushed to the fourth position although it had joined a grand alliance formed by all the major political forces in the state.

This year it has joined hands with ruling party in Uttar Pradesh in hope of doing better. The major alliance partner, the SP, has been gracious and offered more than ten per cent of the total assembly seats to the party. Even in such a situation if the party does not improve its position Rahul will come in for severe criticism . Like him, Mayawati's stature will be lowered if she fails to impress.

The BJP denies that the current election is a referendum on demonetisation. Also that it is a mini-parliament election. However, most of other parties and political experts view it differently.