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Badaun Lok Sabha constituency set for a triangular contest between SP, BJP and Congress
With over 4 lakh Yadav voters, Badaun is known as a Samajwadi Party bastion. In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the party had won only five of the 80 seats and Badaun was one of them.
While campaigning in his constituency, sitting MP and Samajwadi Party candidate from Badaun Lok Sabha seat, Dharmendra Yadav, makes it a point to highlight the importance of a dependable leader in the district.
Addressing a small gathering in Bilsi area of Badaun on Sunday on the concluding day of campaigning for the third phase of Lok Sabha elections, Yadav said: “I have been facing problems in ensuring the development of Badaun since 2014 but I have tried my best because I always have your development in mind.”
“I worked to build the medical college and a government college for our children so that they can have a bright future. This is only possible when there is a trustworthy man in the Lok Sabha,” he said. Dharmendra Yadav (40), a member of the Yadav family, is the cousin of SP president Akhilesh Yadav.
In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the party had won only five of the 80 seats and Badaun was one of them.
With over 4 lakh Yadav voters, Badaun is known as a Samajwadi Party bastion. “I won the election in 2014 by a margin of over 1.5 lakh votes in the face of a strong Modi wave. Now, people can see through the lies of Narendra Modi and I am confident that my victory margin will increase,” asserted Dharmendra.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has nominated Sanghamitra Maurya, daughter of UP cabinet minister Swami Prasad Maurya. According to experts, the decision was taken to cash in on her father’s popularity among MauryaShakya voters who are around 3 lakh in Badaun. A doctor by profession, Sanghamitra entered politics in 2012. In 2014, she fought on a Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) ticket against SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav and stood third with 14 per cent vote. This time, she is a BJP candidate.
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“This country needs the strong leadership of Narendra Modi and all of you must vote for the BJP to make it happen,” she said at a public meeting in Badaun on Sunday.
A shopkeeper Dinesh Gupta, who was present in the rally, nodded in agreement. “Modi ji is a true ‘vikas purush’ (development man) and must be voted back to power. I have nothing against Dharmendra Yadav but Modi must get another chance,” Gupta said.
Close to the venue of Sanghmitra’s rally, Congress candidate and former MP Salim Shervani was meeting a group of Muslim men.
“This election is not only about development but also for the future of minority communities in the country. A certain kind of people are doing politics by spreading hate. We must understand this and try to stop them from taking the society to a point of no return,” said Shervani. “Shervani is a Muslim and people have a soft corner for him but they understand that he has been brought to weaken the prospects of SP-BSP-RLD alliance,” said Sehzad Alam, a local businessman.
With Shervani in fray, the contest in Badaun has become triangular as there are over 3.5 lakh Muslim voters here.
While most of the Muslim voters refused to discuss politics, they openly talked about their problems. “Our locality is the oldest and most congested area of the city. There should be a proper sewage system. No government has done anything for us,” said Yakub Khan, a resident of Merai Choki area of old Badaun.
They also raised issues like lack of health facilities, roads and jobs. Some of them also referred to Najeeb Ahmed, a 27-year-old resident of Badaun and a student of JNU who went missing in 2016.
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