By-elections are going to be held in Rampur Lok Sabha seat of Uttar Pradesh. Azam Khan had captured this seat in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. In such a situation, this by-election has become very interesting. In fact, the reputation of Azam Khan, who was a cabinet minister in the SP government on this seat, is at stake. SP has given ticket to Azam Khan’s close aide Asim Raja. At the same time, BJP has made Ghanshyam Lodhi, who was once close to Azam Khan, as its candidate.
Let us tell you that for the Rampur Lok Sabha by-election on June 23, BJP is dependent on the policies and development works of the Yogi Adityanath government. But in this stronghold of Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan, the road is not considered easy for the BJP. However, former Congress MLA from Rampur has also supported the BJP candidate in the by-election.
A senior SP leader said that the party is confident that Azam Khan will ensure the victory of 64-year-old Asim Raja. She has been with him for 45 years. Significantly, in Rampur, Muslim voters are considered important in deciding the victory or defeat of a candidate. Looking at the previous election results, Azam’s support can prove to be decisive in this by-election.
The party leader said that in Rampur, votes go to the same side as Azam Khan. Even after some speculations in the media about the rift between him and Akhilesh Yadav, it is now clear that Azam is still a staunch socialist and this is enough for Asim Raja’s victory. The SP leader says that Azam Khan remained in jail for more than two years, but even today there is sympathy for Azam in the Muslim population. People will vote for Azam, whoever the candidate is.
At the same time, amidst the situation in Rampur, BJP believes that Ghanshyam Lodhi, who was also a former MLC of SP, will give a tough fight to SP candidate Aseem Raja. According to The Indian Express, a BJP leader said, “Rampur Lok Sabha constituency has a sizeable number of Lodhi community. Whose support will be given to our candidate. Apart from this, we will also get votes of other Hindu communities. In this we will get some part of the votes of the Muslim community. Which gives us confidence of victory.”
BJP leader Akash Saxena says people are “tired” of Azam Khan contesting from Rampur. He said, ‘SP fields candidates from Azam’s family only and it is clear that the same has happened this time also. Asim Raja is a part of his core group and is like his family.
Equation of votes in Rampur seat: Significantly, the number of Muslims in Rampur is about 8.5 lakh. He is followed by about 8.3 lakh Hindus, including about 1.5 lakh Dalits, OBC groups such as Lodis 1.25 lakh, Kurmi 75,000, Saini 80,000, Pal community 38,000 and Yadav 45,000 and upper castes.
In the last Lok Sabha elections (2019), Azam Khan got 52.71 percent of the votes. In front of him was BJP’s Jaya Prada candidate. He got 42.34 percent of the votes. At the same time, in the UP assembly elections held in February-March, SP won three in Rampur and BJP in two assembly constituencies. Here also the SP’s upper hand was visible.
Let us tell you that even though the BJP is eyeing the Rampur seat, it will not be easy for the BJP to overcome the way the Azam Khan family is considered to be dominant here. In such a situation, BJP will have to work hard to conquer Rampur, the stronghold of Azam Khan.