Gotegaon (SC)

Gotegaon is a special constituency of the district in various ways. It is the only constituency, which is reserved for SC candidates, and thus the BSP is flexing its muscles most here.

Sitting MLA: Shekhar Choudhary (Congress)

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Gotegaon is a special constituency of the district in various ways. It is the only constituency, which is reserved for SC candidates, and thus the BSP is flexing its muscles most here.

"Gotegaon is our strongest bid," district BSP chief Patel says. The former state president of party Phool Singh Baraiya has paid special attention to the seat making a number of tours here.

However the other and more dominant factor here is the presence of the ashram of Jagadguru Swaroopanand Saraswati, who holds quite an influence over the electorate, though the Seer does not involve himself in politics directly. It is perhaps at his behest that the Congress has once again fielded the former energy minister NP Prajapati from this seat. Prajapati has done a lot to provide infrastructure to this constituency that he won twice – once in 1985 and then in 1993.

However, the quite unknown Shekhar Choudhary replaced him in 1998 and though Choudhary has ruffled no feathers – either with party cadre or electorate, he is out of rat race this time.

The BJP on its part has fielded district Janpad Panchayat member Hakim Singh Chidar from here. One has to watch and see, whether it turns out to be Congress versus the BSP – rather than the BJP in this seat, as infighting and vote divide on caste lines is expected to seriously affect the saffron party’s prospects here.