Former cabinet minister and SP candidate Dharam Singh Saini lost the election from Nakud assembly seat of Saharanpur district. BJP candidate Mukesh Chaudhary has defeated Dharam Singh Saini by 315 votes. SP candidate Dharam Singh Saini got 1,03,799 votes while BJP candidate Mukesh Chaudhary got 1,04,114 votes. Nakud assembly seat is considered to be a Muslim majority seat and Owaisi’s party AIMIM had also fielded a candidate here.
AIMIM candidate became the reason for the defeat
The biggest reason for the defeat of Dharam Singh Saini is AIMIM candidate Rizwana. Rizwana got 3591 votes while Dharam Singh Saini lost by just 315 votes. It is believed that Rizwana has cut Muslim votes, due to which Dharam Singh Saini lost the election. Had Rizwana not contested, most of her votes would have gone to Dharam Singh Saini.
On 13 January 2022, Dharam Singh Saini resigned from the Yogi cabinet and met Akhilesh Yadav. After the resignation of Dharam Singh Saini Akhilesh Yadav shared a photo with him While writing that “With the arrival of Dr. Dharam Singh Saini ji, another warrior of social justice, our ‘positive and progressive politics’ has got more enthusiasm and strength. Hearty welcome and greetings to him in SP! In twenty two inclusiveness-harmony is sure to win!”
SP gave ticket to Dharam Singh Saini instead of Imran Masood
Dharam Singh Saini contests from Nakud assembly seat and from here Congress’s strongman Imran Masood also used to contest elections. However, just before the election, Imran Masood left the Congress and joined the Samajwadi Party. Later SP gave ticket to Dharam Singh Saini by not giving him a ticket. Imran Masood had also announced to support Dharam Singh Saini.
Dharam Singh Saini is said to be close to Swami Prasad Maurya and has confessed several times that he has an opinion in most of Swami Prasad Maurya’s decisions. Dharam Singh Saini defeated Imran Masood of INC in the 2012 and 2017 assembly elections. Dharam Singh Saini also won the 2017 assembly elections by only about 4000 votes.