SP fields sitting BJP MP against Anupriya Patel

With this change, the contest for the Mirzapur Lok Sabha seat becomes more interesting, as it involves two MPs. Simultaneously, the SP has fielded a former BJP MP, Chotelal Kharwar, for the Robertsganj Lok Sabha seat.

Published on: May 12, 2024, 22:31:51 IST

By Pankaj Jaiswal

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LUCKNOW: In a curious turn of events, the Samajwadi Party (SP) has changed its candidate for the Mirzapur seat on Sunday. Now, the sitting Bhadohi BJP MP Ramesh Bind is the SP’s candidate, challenging the BJP-ally Apna Dal (S) MP Anupriya Patel.

Ramesh Bind, the sitting BJP MP from Bhadohi, was denied a ticket by the BJP. Instead, the BJP fielded Vinod Kumar Bind as its candidate.

With this change, the contest for the Mirzapur Lok Sabha seat becomes more interesting, as it involves two MPs. Simultaneously, the SP has fielded a former BJP MP, Chotelal Kharwar, for the Robertsganj Lok Sabha seat.

Chotelal Kharwar served as the BJP’s MP from the Robertsganj seat from 2014 to 2019. However, in 2019, the BJP allocated the seat to its alliance partner, Apna Dal (S), much to Kharwar’s dismay. For the 2024 polls, Apna Dal (S) has fielded Rinki Kol as its candidate.

Ramesh Bind rebelled against the BJP after being denied a ticket and there were speculations that he might join the SP, which he eventually did. With Bind now contesting for the SP, the main contest in Mirzapur is between two MPs while the main contest in Robertsganj is between the former MP, Chotelal Kharwar, and a sitting MLA, Rinki Kol, who represents Mirzapur’s Chhanbey seat.

Both seats will go to polls in the seventh and final phase of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. This will be the second Lok Sabha constituency where two MPs will be contesting. Previously, the Bulandshahr Lok Sabha constituency, where voting took place on April 26, witnessed two MPs in the fray. The incumbent BJP MP from Bulandshahr, Bhola Singh, and the BSP’s sitting MP from Nagina, Girish Chandra, contested in Bulandshahr.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Pankaj Jaiswal
Pankaj Jaiswal is Bureau Chief, Uttar Pradesh. He covers-analyses politics, and assists Hindustan Times reporters across the state. He has 30 years of experience in print media reporting. Based in Lucknow, he started his journalism career at a national English daily in Kanpur after graduating from Christ Church College. He joined Hindustan Times, Lucknow edition, as part of the launch team in 1997. He’s covered everything from rural distress to science, environment, wildlife, and crime. He has travelled extensively in Uttar Pradesh for rural, development, political, and election reporting. His continued interest in rural issues, rural distress, and development journalism has fetched him a handful of prestigious awards and fellowships. Pankaj is a photojournalist too. He clinched the Statesman Award for Rural Reporting—First Prize in 2009 and Third Prize in 2006—for exposing Bundelkhand’s devastating drought and distress: crop failures, farm suicides, migration, debt, and the injustice of meagre compensation cheques between Rs 10 and Rs 20 to farmers by the government from crop loss. He also has been awarded with Hindustan Times internal 'Journalist of the Month' citation over half a dozen times. His relentless reporting in Hindustan Times pulled the Bundelkhand crisis out of obscurity and forced it into the national spotlight, prompting media and government action on one of India’s most neglected regions. Over a decade, he filed hundreds of hard-hitting stories, travelling repeatedly from Lucknow deep into Bundelkhand. He also received the Special Mention KC Kulish International Award 2009. Pankaj also did long-haul political reporting on the most intense political family feud—’The Yadav Family Feud’—between 2016 and 2022.Read More