Lucknow: Eleven Lok Sabha seats in Rohilkhand will be voting on Thursday, April 17. The resurgent BJP is trying to make maximum gains from this region.
BJP candidate and former union minister Maneka Gandhi is fighting her seventh Lok Sabha election from this region. She is back in the Pilibhit constituency, which she has represented five times in the past. In 2009, she had vacated Pilibhit for her son Varun Gandhi who was making his electoral debut on a BJP ticket. According to ground reports, Maneka is on a strong wicket and she will sail through.
Though Nagina is a Muslim dominated constituency, it is reserved for the SC candidates. This seat is currently held by Samajwadi Party's Yashvir Singh Dhobi who has been fielded again by the SP. Other contestants are former MLA Girish Chand of the BSP, Yashwant Singh of the BJP and Sarika Choudhary of the AAP. Nagina is located in Western UP and is one of the main trade centres of wooden craft.
Congress MP and cricketer turned politician Mohammed Azaruddin has shifted from Moradabad to Sawai Madhopur in Rajasthan. The Congress (Azhar) won this seat for the first time in 2009 after it lost the seat in 1989. Now the Congress has given a ticket to Begum Noor Bano of the Rampur royal family. The people of Moradabad are angry with Azaruddin for deserting the voters. They allege that his performance as an MP was abysmal. The anti-Azhar feeling may go against Begum Noor Bano.
The ruling SP has earlier won this seat twice. This time, Moradabad is witnessing a triangular contest between the Congress and the BJP's Kunwar Sarvesh Kumar Singh. Moradabad is known for its thriving brass industry and has several brass exporters. Incidentally, Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra is also a native of Moradabad.
Another important seat Rampur is a Muslim-dominated area in the Rohilkhand region of UP. Dr Nepal Singh of the BJP is pitted against the SP leader and UP Minorities Commission chairman, Nasheed Ahmed Khan. He is backed by the SP strongman from Rampur, Azam Khan. The SP has been winning from Rampur since 2004. Film actress Jayaprada won twice on the SP ticket in 2004 and 2009 from this seat. She has now joined the RLD and is contesting from Bijnore, where voting is already over.
Earlier this seat has seen a stronghold of Congress's Begum Noor Banu. The BJP's Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi first won from Rampur during the Ram Mandir wave in 1991 and again in 1998.
Sabhal has been a SP stronghold since 1996. SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav has won from here twice in 1998 and 1999. Don turned politician DP Yadav won from Sambhal on a SP ticket in 2004.
In 2009, the SP lost this seat to firebrand Muslim leader Shafiqur Rahman Barq who contested on a Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) ticket. Barq hit the national headlines when he declared boycott of Vande Mataram in Parliament. He was denied a BSP ticket.
This time Azam Khan forced Mulayam Singh Yadav to replace candidate Javed Ali Khan and give a ticket to Barq. Barq's cousin Akilur Rahman is contesting on the BSP ticket against him. Two Assembly seats in the region Rampur Khas and Vishwanath Ganj are also voting in a by-election on the same.
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