Family feud over, can a united Samajwadi Party, reclaim the glass city Firozabad?
BJP lost the seat in 2014 despite the Modi Tsunami, won it 2019 after two decades due to Shivpal’s rebellion
Refined craftsmanship and “handle with care” are the two most distinguished aspects of Firozabad’s iconic glass industry. Dealing with glass, shaping it into beautiful glassware is an art of patience. Like that, the politics, too, in this western U.P. town has tested the patience of the all-powerful BJP for almost two decades before falling in its kitty in 2019. The BJP’s gains then could, however, be attributed to the Samajwadi Party not handling its affairs with care. The family feud between Akhilesh Yadav and his uncle Shivpal had helped the BJP finally win the seat, which they had lost even during the Modi Tsunami of 2014.
Five years later, now in the run-up to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the Samajwadi Party has long overcome its feud. Chacha and Bhatija are on the same team, and therefore, the electoral contest in Firozabad has once again become interesting. Both sides have dug their heels and are busy fortifying their ranks.
While the BJP has yet not declared its candidate, the Samajwadi Party has fielded former MP Akshaya Yadav. Son of SP general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav, Akshaya had won the seat in 2014. In response to the SP’s move of picking the candidate from within the family, sources say the BJP is most likely to deny the ticket to its sitting MP Dr Chandra Sen Jadaun. The Bahujan Samaj Party has fielded Satyendra Jain Solly. Firozabad goes to polls in the third phase on May 7. Nomination for it will start on April 12.
Eyeing recapture of the lost strong hold, SP had also nominated local heavyweight and two-term former Lok Sabha MP Ramji Lal Suman to the Rajya Sabha in February. For the BJP, a united Samajwadi Party has undoubtedly raised the challenge in Firozabad. The saffron party had first won it 1991, during the heydays of the Ram temple movement. Since then, till 1999, the BJP held this seat over the course of two general elections in 1996 and 1998. In 1999, the seat was brought to the SP fold by Ramji Lal Suman. Thereafter, till 2014, the SP had a hold on this seat, barring an exception in 2009, when Raj Babbar won the seat on the Congress ticket in a bypoll after Akhilesh Yadav decided to vacate Firozabad and retain Kannauj. In 2019, the BJP reclaimed it.
The BJP won seven out of eight parliamentary seats in the Braj region in 2019, improving its tally from six Lok Sabha seats in 2014 in the region.
Despite the dominant show in the surrounding seats, the BJP lost in Firozabad in 2014 as Akshaya Yadav, defeated BJP heavy weight and present Union minister SP Singh Baghel by a margin of over one lakh votes. While Akshaya polled 5,34,583 votes, Baghel secured 4,20,524 votes.
Five years later, in 2019, Shivpal Yadav queered the pitch for the SP as he contested the seat as a candidate of his rebel outfit, the Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (PSP) Lohia, splitting the SP’s traditional votes and upsetting the applecart for Akshaya Yadav who lost to the BJP’s Chandra Sen Jadaun by 28,781 votes.
Jadaun polled 4,95,819 votes, Akshaya Yadav 4,67,038 votes and Shivpal Yadav 91,869 votes in Firozabad, which is part of the Yadav belt and has over 4 lakh Yadav voters and 1.5 lakh Muslim voters.
After a patch-up, Shivpal played a key role in scripting the victory of Akhilesh Yadav’s wife Dimple Yadav in the 2022 Lok Sabha by-election held in nearby Mainpuri after the death of SP founder Mulayam Singh Yadav. Dimple won by nearly three lakh votes when compared to Mulayam Singh Yadav, who won by less than one lakh votes from the same Mainpuri constituency in 2019.