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First time in decades, Azam Khan missing as voter, contestant in Rampur
BJP spots a chance to make inroads in Samajwadi Party leader Azam’s bastion Rampur in assembly by-election schedueld for December 5
Missing voter names are common poll-day complaints in Uttar Pradesh. But, on December 5, when the Rampur (Sadar) assembly bypoll is held, a familiar name on serial number 333 of Vidhan Sabha 37-Rampur or Rampur (Sadar) would be missed –Azam Khan, a record 10-time winner from the constituency. Except in 1996, Azam Khan has been winning uninterruptedly in Rampur since 1980.
This would be the first election in over four decades without Azam or his clan as a contestant in the key west U.P. assembly seat.
The bypoll was caused after Khan’s disqualification as an MLA following his conviction in a 2019 hate speech case. On Thursday evening, acting on a BJP complaint, the Rampur electoral registration officer decided to strike off the Samajwadi Party veteran’s name from the electoral list, citing provisions of the Representation of the People Act 1950 and 1951, Azam’s conviction order and three-year jail term in a 2019 hate speech case.
With Azam Khan, the Muslim face of the Samajwadi Party, not in the picture, the BJP has upped the ante in a fresh bid to make an impact in the Muslim-majority constituency.
The assembly bypoll is happening five months after the BJP picked a former Azam Khan aide, Ghanshyam Lodhi, an OBC leader, to win the Rampur Lok Sabha bypoll in June against the Samajwadi Party’s Asim Raza, who is again handpicked to take on the BJP candidate, Akash Saxena, son of a former BJP minister and responsible for filing a number of cases against Khan.
It was on Saxena’s complaint that Azam Khan’s name was struck off the electoral list. The decision to go with Asim Raza again has surprised many as the buzz was that someone from Azam’s clan would contest.
In the 2022 UP assembly polls, Khan’s political clout was evident again as, despite battling cases, he won from jail, defeating Saxena comfortably by a margin of around 55,000 votes.
“Abhi socha nahin hai … dekhiye kya hota hai.. (haven’t made up my mind yet, let us see what happens),” said Iqbal, a small-time shopkeeper of Rampur, a typical response of the voters of this constituency who used to keeping shy of the media while voting for Khan or his clan for decades.
Perhaps to deny any sympathy that Azam Khan might have generated, BJP candidate Akash Saxena has been avoiding any discussion on Azam now.
“That chapter is over. Now, Rampur will write a new chapter of prosperity and development. It will be known for factories,” said Saxena. To boost his campaign, the BJP has deployed some of its top ministers, including veteran Suresh Khanna, the state’s finance minister, Dharampal Singh, the minorities affairs minister, and Jitin Prasada, the PWD minister in the constituency.
The BSP isn’t contesting these bypolls, nor is the Congress. Their absence makes it virtually a straight contest between the SP and the BJP.
“Yes, our leaders will campaign,” said a senior party functionary.
“If the BJP manages to win Rampur (Sadar), it would give a huge boost to the party campaign ahead of 2024 LS polls, wherein it could start marketing its wins as proof that Muslims too are shedding their approach towards the BJP,” said Irshad Ilmi, a political observer.
The BJP is claiming that works worth ₹3100 crore have already been initiated in Rampur by the Yogi Adityanath government.
The party has already held a function to woo ‘pasmanda (backward)’ Muslims, the mainstay of Azam Khan’s wins in Rampur, on November 12.
It is now set to step up the campaign which, will intensify further in the next few days.
