Union Human Resources Minister Murli Manohar Joshi appears to be strong challenge in his bid for a record fourth consecutive term from the prestigious Allahabad Lok Sabha constituency.
Having sailed through by comfortable margins in the last three general elections from here in 1996, 1998 and 1999, Joshi faces formidable rivals in Uttar Pradesh Transport Minister and Samajwadi Party candidate Reoti Raman Singh. RK Singh Pattel of BSP and Congress' Satya Prakash Malviya are the other prominent aspirants this time.
Everytime Joshi had contested the polls from Allahabad, he had the advantage of having a BJP government in Uttar Pradesh but this time with the SP at the helms of affairs, he lacks that edge.
Joshi could, however, draw comfort from the fact that three of the five assembly segments in this parliamentary consituency are being held by BJP leaders.
The HRD Minister is trying to encash on his key portfolio which has enabled him to bring in several development projects for his constituency, particularly in the field of education.
During his campaign, Joshi has taken care to mention that he had brought the science city project, Indian Institute of Information Technology and Yamuna river overbridge here in the last five years. (MORE)
However, Joshi is likely to face the ire of the teaching community of Allahabad University over the failure to secure central status for the institution with which the HRD minister had been associated for nearly four decades as a professor of Physics.
{{/usCountry}}However, Joshi is likely to face the ire of the teaching community of Allahabad University over the failure to secure central status for the institution with which the HRD minister had been associated for nearly four decades as a professor of Physics.
{{/usCountry}}A bill seeking to give central university status to Allahabad University was defeated in the Rajya Sabha in Februrary last at the introductory stage itself.
While Joshi has sought to shift the blame on opposition Congress and SP for the defeat of the Allahabad University bill, 2004, his political adversaries have accused him of taking the issue lightly by not mobilising the NDA MPs in the upper house to be present there during introduction of the bill.
The opposition parties are trying to corner him for seeking electoral advantage by tabling the bill at the fag-end of the special sesn of Rajya Sabha in February.
The Allahabad University Associated Colleges Teachers' Association (AUACTA) has turned against Joshi after he failed to give them an assurance that the associated colleges of the district would be given status as constituent college of Allahabad University after it is granted central university status.
The AUCTA has decided to make it a poll issue against Joshi prompting him to make repeated clarifications that the demands of the associated colleges would be considered at an appropiate time.
The debate on the fate of the associated colleges and absence of central university status to Allahabad University and the opposition's onslaught to keep the issue on the boil apart from hectic electioneering by the SP nominee in rural areas has forced the HRD minister to change his campaign strategy. (MORE)
Joshi is now focussing on the caste equations and wooing the voters accordingly. He held several election meetings of the Lodh, Kurmi, Kshatriya and other castes to seek their votes.
The Minister also took personal interest in persuading nearly 500 muslims to join BJP.
The SP candidate, on the other hand, is out to avenge his 1999 defeat against Joshi by over 72,000 votes. He has the entire party machinery unitedly behind him in his quest to wrest the high profile seat from Joshi.
Reoti Raman Singh, an eight-term legislator from Karchana assembly segment under Allahabad parliamentary constituency, is likely to score over Joshi in three rural assembly segments due to polarisation of the Yadav and Muslim votes in his favour due to personal appeal of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav.
The SP chief had last weak addressed three election meetings in the district at which he invoked his personal appeal to urge the two communities to vote for his candidates in order to strenghthen his hands in parliament so that SP could play a decisive role in the formation of the next government at the Centre.
(REOP DEL17)
The return of controversial MLA Atiq Ahmed to SP is also likely to bring in sizable votes of the muslim community to Singh as Ahmed was a five-term legislator from Allahabad West and he himself is an MLA from Phulpur assembly constituency.
However, the SP nominee has his task cout out in swaying the urban electorate (about six lakh) which has traditionally voted for Joshi.
With the issues of civic amenities, roads and electricity shortage dogging the lives of the urban voters, Singh's assertion that the civic issues would be on top of his agenda after election may fetch him additional votes in urban areas.
The BSP nominee, on the other hand, would aim at increasing the party's tally of 1.18 lakh votes polled last time by roping in the support of the caste (about two lakh) to which he belongs, besides retaining about 20 per cent of the Dalit votebank of the party.
With BJP, SP and BSP making serious bid to win the Allahabad Lok Sabha seat or to increase their respective vote tally in the coming poll, Congress is looking for a fresh lease of life after suffering heavy defeats in this constituency since the massive victory of Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan in 1984. (MORE)
The Congress has since then lost successive elections from this constituency with its vote percentage plummeting to as low as 4.35 per cent in 1998 elections before its nominee Rita Bahuguna Joshi, daughter of former chief Minister H N Bahuguna, stemmed the rot in the elections in the following year by polling 20.57 per cent votes against the eventual winner Murli Manohar Joshi.
The party is riven by dissension in its district unit and its candidate Satya Prakash Malviya, a former Union Minister faces the ardous task of rejuvenating Congress workers before making a serious effort to match his stronger rivals in the electoral arena.
Malviya, a self-confessed socialist before joining Congress last year, would seek to redeem himself by improving the party's vote share in the constituency.