BJP: A Cut above the Rest in UP
Just ahead of the elections in Uttar Pradesh, SPO India does an in-depth analysis of the key constituencies in India's largest state.
Amethi Assembly Election
Though Amethi is the pocket borough of the Nehru- Gandhi family, the seat went in favour of the Samajwadi Party in the last assembly elections in 2012. Gayatri Prasad Prajapati, a minister in the Akhilesh Government, of SP is the sitting MLA of Amethi which he won in 2012 by defeating his nearest rival and then sitting Congress MLA Amita Singh by a comfortable margin of 8760 votes in a triangular contest.
Earlier Amita Singh, wife of former Congress MP Sanjay Singh, had emerged victorious from the seat in 2002 and 2007. While her win in 2002 came on behalf of the BJP, she claimed the seat in 2007 as a nominee of the Congress.
Amethi is one of the five assembly constituencies that unite to create the Lok Sabha constituency of the same name. Gauriganj, Salon, Jagdishpur and Tiloi are the other four assembly constituency within the jurisdiction of Amethi.
Rae Bareli Assembly Election
Don turned politician Akhilesh Kumar Singh is the sitting MLA of Rae Bareli assembly seat which he won in 2012 on behalf of Peace Party by defeating his nearest SP rival Ram Pratap Yadav by a margin of 29494 votes in a multi cornered contest. In that election to the seat, while Akhilesh Kumar Singh polled 75588 votes, the SP nominee received 46094 votes and was followed by Congress's Avadhesh Bahadur Singh who got 35660 votes. Pushpendra Singh of BSP was relegated to the fourth place with 18809 votes.
Sushil Sharma of BJP managed to secure only 3940 votes and was placed fifth.
Earlier Akhilesh Kumar Singh had won the seat in 1993, 1996, 2002 and 2007.
In 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Sonia Gandhi had secured a massive lead of 95618 votes over his nearest BJP rival in the Rae Bareli assembly segment which forms part of the parliamentary constituency of the same name.
Even in 1977 when anti Congress was at its peak in UP, the Rampur assembly constituency went in favour of the Congress. But after that Rampur had been electing SP leader Azam Khan barring one occasion when he lost to Afroz Ali Khan of Congress in 1996. In 2014, the SP's Naseer Khan had secured a lead of 22520 votes over its nearest BJP rival Nepal Singh in the Rampur assembly segment despite the Modi wave. Azam Khan is once again in the fray in Rampur as an SP nominee for his ninth term. Pitted against him is the BJP candidate Shiv Bahadur Saxena who had represented the Suar assembly seat from 1989 to 2002 on behalf of BJP.
Azam Khan is the sitting MLA of Rampur assembly seat which he won in 2012 on behalf of SP by defeating his nearest Congress rival Tanveer Ahmad Khan by a margin of 63269 votes in a one sided contest. In that election to the seat, while Azam Khan polled 95772 votes, the Congress nominee received 32503 votes and was followed by who BSP's Bharat Bhushan got 16570 votes. Jageshwar Dayal Dixit of BJP was relegated to the fourth place with 9949 votes.
Neither BJP nor BSP has been able to win the Rampur assembly election.
The BJP has nominated Baldev Olakh, a former district BJP president of Rampur, to contest the forthcoming 2017 assembly election to Bilaspur. Pradip Gangwar is in the fray as a nominee of BSP. In 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP candidate from the Rampur Lok Sabha constituency, Nepal Singh had established a lead of 33718 votes over his nearest Samajwadi Party rival. The Congress which currently holds the seat came third and BSP was relegated to the fourth place. After the alliance of Congress and SP, the seat is all set to witness a keen contest between BJP and SP-Congress combine.
Sanjay Kapoor is the sitting MLA of Bilaspur assembly seat which he won second time in a row in 2012 on behalf of Congress by defeating his nearest SP rival Beena Bhardwaj by a margin of 10177 votes in a four cornered contest. In that election to the seat, while Sanjay Kapoor polled 52818 votes, Beena Bhardwaj received 42641 votes and was followed by who BSP's AMRISH KUMAR who got 36224 votes. Jwala Prasad of BJP was relegated to the fourth place with 36175 votes.
Earlier Sanjay Kapoor had won the seat in 2007. Beena Bhardwaj had claimed the seat in 2002. Jwala Prasad had emerged victorious in 1991, the last and only time when the BJP had won from here. BSP has never been able to win the Bilaspur assembly election.
Jaswantnagar
Shivpal Singh Yadav, brother of Mulayam Singh Yadav, is the sitting MLA of Jaswantnagar assembly seat which he won in 2012 on behalf of by defeating his nearest BSP rival Manish Yadav Pataray by a margin of 81084 votes in a one-sided contest.
One of the three assembly constituencies located in the Etawah district of Uttar Pradesh, the Jaswantnagar assembly constituency is one of the five assembly segments falling under the Lok Sabha constituency of Mainpuri.
That Jaswantnagar is a stronghold of Samajwadi Party (SP) can be gauged from the fact that in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the SP supremo Mulyam Singh Yadav had established a massive lead of 162341 votes over his nearest BJP rival Shatrughan Singh Chauhan in the Jaswantnagar assembly segment in spite of the Modi wave raging across in the state of Uttar Pradesh.
Lucknow East
Lucknow East assembly seat is set for keen contest among BJP, SP, BSP and Congress in the coming 2017 assembly polls. In the 2014 Lok Sabha general elections, Lucknow East assembly constituency had given a lead of 102560 votes to BJP's Rajnath Singh. However that lead came down to in the bye-election held few months later.
Kalraj Mishra had won the seat in 2012 by defeating SP's Juhie Singh by 20818 votes in a quadrangular contest. In that election to the seat while 68726 votes were polled by Kalraj Mishra, the SP candidate received 47908 votes and was followed by Congress's Ramesh Srivastava who got 35227 votes. K C Thripathy of BSP came fourth with 28040 votes.
In the last assembly election in 2012 Mainpuri assembly constituency had elected Rajkumar alias Raju Yadav who had polled 54990 votes to defeat his nearest BSP rival Rama Shakya by a margin of 14209 votes. Rama Shakya, who received 40781 votes, was followed by Congress's Kalicharan Yadav who managed to bag 24280 votes. Narendra Singh, who entered the fray on behalf of BJP, was relegated to the fourth place with 20040 votes.
Narender Singh had won the Mainpuri seat first time for BJP in 1991. He went on to win the seat in the next assembly election in 1993 but was defeated by Manik Chand Yadav of SP in the subsequent election in 1996.
Ashok Singh Chauhan of BJP wrested the seat from Manik Chand Yadav in 2002 and retained the seat in 2007 by defeating Kalicharan Yadav, then an SP nominee. Ashok Singh Chauhan was denied ticket by the party in 2012.
Lucknow Cantonment
It won't be a smooth sailing of Mulayam's daughter-in-law Aparna who has been nominated by the SP to contest the Lucknow Cantonment assembly seat for the 2017 assembly elections. Before 2012 the assembly constituency had been a stronghold of the BJP for a long time. In the 2014 Lok Sabha general elections, Lucknow Cantonment assembly segment had given a lead of 51152 votes to Rajnath Singh, the current Union Home Minister. SP has never been won the seat.
Presently Lucknow Cantonment is represented in the legislative assembly of Uttar Pradesh by Congress's Rita Bahuguna Joshi who wrested the seat from the BJP in 2012 by defeating its sitting MLA Suresh Chandra Tiwari of by a margin of 21753 votes in a four -cornered contest. In that election to the seat while 63052 votes were received by Rita Bahuguna, Suresh Chandra Tiwari got 41299 votes and was followed by BSP's Naveen Chandra Diwedi who received 28851 votes. Suresh Chauhan, who entered the fray on behalf of the SP, was relegated to the fourth place with 22544 votes.
Earlier Suresh Chandra Tiwari had had won the Lucknow Cantonment assembly seat in 1996, 2002 and 2007.
Ayodhya Assembly
A bastion of the BJP since 1991, Ayodhya assembly constituency went in favour of the Samajwadi Party (SP) in 2012. However, the BJP candidate from the Faizabad Lok Sabha constituency, Lallu Singh, had established a massive lead of 88884 votes over his nearest SP rival Mitrasen Yadav in the Ayodhya assembly segment in 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
Ayodhya assembly constituency is currently held by the SP MLA Tej Narayan Pandey Alias Pawan Pandey who wrested the seat from BJP by defeating its sitting MLA Lallu Singh by 5405 votes in a quadrangular contest in 2012. While 55262 votes were received by Tej Narayan Pandey, Lallu Singh polled 49857 votes and was followed by BSP's Ved Prakash Gupta who got 33481 votes.
Earlier Lallu Singh had represented the Ayodhya assembly constituency from 1991 to 2012.
Sardhana Assembly
Sardhana assembly constituency is a stronghold of the BJP. In 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP candidate from Muzaffarnagar parliamentary seat, Sanjeev Kumar Balyan had secured a whopping lead of 62851 votes over his nearest BSP rival and then sitting MP Kadir Rana in the Sardhana assembly segment.
Sardhana assembly constituency is currently held by BJP's Sangeet Singh Som who won the seat by defeating his nearest Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) rival Hazi Mohammad Yaqub by 12274 votes in a quadrangular contest in 2012. In that election to the seat while 62438 votes were received by Sangeet Singh Som, who shot into fame for his alleged involvement in Muzaffarnagar riots, the RLD nominee polled 50164 votes and was followed by SP's Atul Pradhan who got 48023 votes.
The then sitting BSP MLA Chandraveer Singh was relegated to the fourth place with 44693 votes. The Congress did not contest the election because it was in alliance with the RLD.
Earlier Chandraveer Singh had won the seat in 2007. Ravindra Pundir of BJP had represented the seat from 1993 to 2007.
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