On 20 December 2017, the left parties including- CPI, CPI(M), CPI(ML), SUCI(C) and others called for state-wide protest demonstrations against the increasing electricity cost imposed by the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh. There has been a 63% increase in the electricity rates. The rate of electricity in Uttar Pradesh is more than that in other states. The announcement of the hike was made on 30 November, just a day after the end of the third and final round elections to the urban local bodies.
The CPI(ML) had issued a statement on 30 November calling this hike in prices of electricity just day after the end of elections to the local bodies as anti-people and had demanded that it be revoked immediately. The party in its statement pointed out that the status of power supply in the rural areas was anyway bad and the people of the state are already badly hit by price rice. The agriculture in the state has been reduced to a loss deal. The employment opportunities are also consistently shrinking. In such a scenario, instead of bringing down the rising prices, increasing the rate of electricity is a huge economic assault by the state government on the people of the state. Instead of ensuring availability of electricity for the people, reducing departmental corruption and irrelevant expenses, ensuring that defaulters of hefty electricity bill pay up, the government has opted for easy way of just increasing the electricity rates. This decision is likely to further add to the existing burdens of people.
Following the united call for protest demonstrations, the left parties took out a march on the Vidhan Sabha Marg in the state capital Lucknow. The march culminated into demonstration on reaching the state headquarters of the electricity department, Shakti-Bhawan. Joint protest demonstrations were also held in Mau, Moradabad, Jalaun and various other districts.
