Electioneering yet to pick up in Rampur; administration imposes section 144

With less than three weeks to go for bypolls in 10 assembly seats of Uttar Pradesh, electioneering is yet to pick up in the crucial constituency of Rampur, where

With less than three weeks to go for bypolls in 10 assembly seats of Uttar Pradesh, electioneering is yet to pick up in the crucial constituency of Rampur, where the Samajwadi Party (SP) has fielded its Rajya Sabha MP Tazeen Fatima -- wife of Parliamentarian and senior SP leader Mohd Azam Khan.

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Adding a dampener to the yet-to-start poll campaign, the Rampur administration on Tuesday imposed CrPC Section 144 in the area, in view of the upcoming festival of Dussehra. Section 144 places restrictions on holding public gatherings and events without prior permission.

“Section 144 will remain in force till November 13,” read an order issued by district magistrate Ananjenya Kumar Singh.

Delay in political parties finalising their candidates is also being cited as a reason for the lull. Candidates of all four major political players -- Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), SP, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Congress -- filed their nominations on Monday -- the last day for the process.

“Campaigning will pick up in a day or two,” said BJP’s Akash Saxena, who was an aspirant along with former Bollywood actress Jaya Prada for the Rampur seat, till the party dashed their hopes and decided to field Bharat Bhushan Gupta.

In fact, so confident was Jaya of getting the ticket that she met party workers on Friday and even sang a film song -- ‘Jeet jayenge hum, tu agar sang hai’ (we will win, if you (voters) are with us).

While the Congress and the BSP are also yet to kick-start their campaigns, the SP has been holding booth-level meetings with workers.“Our workers have been energised ever since they met party chief Akhilesh Yadav during his recent visit to Rampur,” said Shafiq, a party worker.

Barring the BJP, the other three major parties have fielded Muslim candidates. This is because Rampur has a sizeable chunk of Muslim voters (2.6 lakh), followed by 1.3 lakh Hindus voters. The seat has elected only Muslim candidates to the assembly since Independence.

With three Muslim contenders in the fray, the BJP is hoping to wrest the seat from the SP, banking on a split in Muslim votes. The party’s candidate, Bharat Bhushan Gupta, contested the 2012 assembly polls on a BSP ticket. He has also been a member of zila panchayat twice.

Meanwhile, the Congress has fielded Arshad Ali Khan, while Zubair Masood Khan, a former customs officer, is contesting from a BSP ticket.