Uttar Pradesh: First phase nominations for 8 Lok Sabha seats conclude, stage set for 3-way fight
Union minister Sanjeev Balyan, U.P. minister Jitin Prasad, Azad Samaj Party chief Chandra Shekhar Azad among prominent Lok Sabha candidates in the fray
The stage is set for a three-cornered contest among the Bharatiya Janata Party led-NDA, the Samajwadi Party-led INDIA bloc and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) as the filing of nominations in eight Lok Sabha constituencies, going to polls in the first phase in Uttar Pradesh on April 19, concluded on Wednesday.
A total of 155 candidates filed their nomination for these seats -- Saharanpur, Kairana, Muzaffarnagar, Bijnor, Nagina (SC), Moradabad, Rampur and Pilibhit -- dominated by Muslims and Dalits.
The BJP had bagged three of these seats in 2019 (Muzaffarnagar, Kairana and Pilibhit) the SP two (Moradabad and Rampur) and the BSP three (Saharanpur, Nagina and Bijnor). The Samajwadi Party had contested the 2019 election in alliance with the BSP.
In 2014, the BJP had won seven -- Muzaffarnagar, Kairana, Pilibhit, Moradabad, Saharanpur, Nagina and Bijnor -- of these eight seats in the Rohilkhand region of the state. The SP bagged Rampur back then. Overall, the BJP lost 16 seats in Uttar Pradesh in the 2019 Lok Sabha election.
The first-phase poll on the seats will be crucial for the BJP to achieve the target of 80/80 seats set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the party in Uttar Pradesh. The SP and BSP will fight to retain the seats and maintain their hold over their support base of Muslims and Dalits respectively. The Jat vote is also decisive in the sugarcane belt of western UP.
The BJP and the SP have worked on fresh strategies and sewed up new alliances. The BJP has joined hands with the RLD and the SP allied with the Congress. The BSP has decided to go solo.
The BJP has given the Bijnor seat to its new ally the Rashtriya Lok Dal. In the INDIA bloc, the SP has fielded candidates on seven of these seats and left Saharanpur for the Congress.
In the first phase, Union minister Sanjeev Balyan (BJP) is seeking a third term from Muzaffarnagar, UP PWD Minister Jitin Prasad (BJP) is in the fray from Pilibhit and Azad Samaj Party chief Chandra Shekhar Azad from Nagina.
Azam Khan, the Muslim face of the SP who has turned Rampur and Moradabad into strong forts for the party, will be missing from the campaign as he is lodged in jail.
Despite the Modi wave, Khan won the Rampur Lok Sabha seat in 2019.
Moradabad is set to witness a three-cornered contest between the BJP’s Kunwar Sarvesh Kumar Singh, Ruchi Veera of the SP and the BSP’s Irfan Saifi. The SP replaced sitting MP ST Hasan in Moradabad on the last day of nominations.
Nagina is likely to witness a four-cornered fight after Azad Samaj Party (ASP) chief Chandra Shekhar Azad filed nomination. The The BJP has fielded its sitting Nehtaur MLA Om Kumar, the SP put up former judicial officer Manoj Kumar and the BSP nominated Surendra Pal, who belongs to the Jatav community.
The BSP’s Girish Chandra, who won the Nagina seat in 2019, has been shifted to Bulandshahr.
The BJP stronghold Pilibhit seat will witness a three-cornered contest among Jitin Prasad (BJP), Bhagwat Sharan Gangwar (SP) and Anis Ahmed Khan aka Phool Babu (BSP). The BJP has replaced three-term MP Varun Gandhi with Prasad.
Rampur witnessed drama in the Samajwadi Party camp on the last day of nominations after Asim Raza, who contested the 2022 Lok Sabha byelection on the SP ticket, filed his nomination, claiming to be the party’s official candidate.
Later Mohibulla Nadvi, an imam in a Delhi mosque, too filed his nominations, making similar claims. The BJP has fielded Ghanshyam Singh Lodhi, who won the Rampur by-election in 2022, while the BSP has given the ticket to Zishan Khan.
The prestige of RLD chief Jayan Chaudhary is at stake in Bijnor where he has fielded Meerapur MLA Chandan Chauhan. The BSP denied the ticket to its sitting MP Maluk Nagar and fielded Chaudhary Vijendra Singh, a Jat leader. Yashvir Singh is the SP candidate.
In Kairana, the BJP’s Pradeep Choudhary, the SP’s Iqra Hasan and the BSP’s Shripal Singh Rana are in the fray.
In Muzaffarnagar, Union minister Sanjeev Balyan is pitted against the SP’s Harendra Malik and the BSP’s Dara Singh Prajapati.
The BJP reposed faith in former MP Raghav Lakhanpal in Saharanpur where former MLA Imran Masood (Congress) and BSP’s Majid Ali are the other prominent candidates. The BSP denied the ticket to sitting MP Haji Fazlur Rehman.