May 28, 2018 09:15:33 (IST)
The Battle For UP's Kairana Lok Sabha Constituency - A Brief History
The Kairana bypoll has become a direct contest between Mriganka Singh and Rashtriya Lok Dal's (RLD) Tabassum Hasan. The opposition's campaign received a boost after an independent candidate dropped out of the race on May 24.
Independent candidate Kanwar Hasan dropped out of the race and announced that he was backing 48-year-old Tabassum Hasan of the RLD, who is also backed by a united opposition including Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party, Mayawati's BSP, Congress and Nishad Party.
The opposition is eyeing the chunk of Jat voters, who have traditionally voted for Ajit Singh's RLD but had drifted to the BJP in 2014. RLD candidate Tabassum Hassan had earlier won from Kairana in 2009 on a BSP ticket by defeating Hukum Singh. This time, she takes on his daughter. For RLD president Ajit Singh and his son and vice-president of the party, Jayant Chowdhury, the Kairana by-election presents the opportunity to reclaim their core supporters of Jats, the dominant agrarian caste of Western UP, which shifted loyalties to the BJP in the general election after tensions between Hindus and Muslims in areas like Muzaffarnagar and Shamli districts in 2013.
Located around 630 km from Lucknow, the Kairana Lok Sabha constituency has five assembly segments namely Shamli, Thana Bhawan and Kairana in Shamli district; and Gangoh and Nakur in Saharanpur district.
At least five state ministers had campaigned for BJP candidate in Kairana. They include Dharam Singh Saini (minister of state for Ayush), Suresh Rana (sugarcane development minister), Anupama Jaiswal (basic education minister) Surya Pratap Shahi (agriculture minister) and Laxmi Narayan (religious affairs, culture, minority welfare, waqf and Haj minister).
When Hukum Singh of the BJP won Kairana, his victory margin in 2014 of 2.30 lakh votes was more than the combined votes of the SP, BSP and RLD. He won by a stunning vote share of over 50 per cent. Mr Singh had managed a whopping 50.54 per cent of the votes in 2014. In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Hukum Singh had bagged 5,65,909 votes and defeated Nahid Hasan of the Samajwadi Party who got 3,29,081 votes. But the Kairana seat fell vacant after his death in February this year.
Now Hukum Singh's daughter Mriganka Singh is contesting from the seat. Apart from the BJP's traditional upper caste Hindu vote, Mriganka Singh also has the loyalty of members of her own caste, Kairana's 1.4 lakh Hindu Gujjars.
(The by-election in UP's Kairana constituency is taking place because of the death of BJP MP Hukum Singh. Now his daughter Mriganka Singh is contesting on a BJP ticket against RLD's Begum Tabassum Hasan, who is being backed by Samajwadi Party, BSP and Congress)
Hukum Singh's daughter Mriganka Singh is taking on Tabassum Hasan who has been propped as the candidate to oppose the BJP. Tabassum Hasan was earlier with Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party, then moved to the Samajwadi Party before joining Ajit Singh's RLD. Her late husband Munnawar Hasan has represented the seat earlier.
The Kairana bypoll has become a direct contest between Mriganka Singh and Rashtriya Lok Dal's (RLD) Tabassum Hasan. The opposition's campaign received a boost after an independent candidate dropped out of the race on May 24.
Independent candidate Kanwar Hasan dropped out of the race and announced that he was backing 48-year-old Tabassum Hasan of the RLD, who is also backed by a united opposition including Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party, Mayawati's BSP, Congress and Nishad Party.
The opposition is eyeing the chunk of Jat voters, who have traditionally voted for Ajit Singh's RLD but had drifted to the BJP in 2014. RLD candidate Tabassum Hassan had earlier won from Kairana in 2009 on a BSP ticket by defeating Hukum Singh. This time, she takes on his daughter. For RLD president Ajit Singh and his son and vice-president of the party, Jayant Chowdhury, the Kairana by-election presents the opportunity to reclaim their core supporters of Jats, the dominant agrarian caste of Western UP, which shifted loyalties to the BJP in the general election after tensions between Hindus and Muslims in areas like Muzaffarnagar and Shamli districts in 2013.
Located around 630 km from Lucknow, the Kairana Lok Sabha constituency has five assembly segments namely Shamli, Thana Bhawan and Kairana in Shamli district; and Gangoh and Nakur in Saharanpur district.
At least five state ministers had campaigned for BJP candidate in Kairana. They include Dharam Singh Saini (minister of state for Ayush), Suresh Rana (sugarcane development minister), Anupama Jaiswal (basic education minister) Surya Pratap Shahi (agriculture minister) and Laxmi Narayan (religious affairs, culture, minority welfare, waqf and Haj minister).
When Hukum Singh of the BJP won Kairana, his victory margin in 2014 of 2.30 lakh votes was more than the combined votes of the SP, BSP and RLD. He won by a stunning vote share of over 50 per cent. Mr Singh had managed a whopping 50.54 per cent of the votes in 2014. In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Hukum Singh had bagged 5,65,909 votes and defeated Nahid Hasan of the Samajwadi Party who got 3,29,081 votes. But the Kairana seat fell vacant after his death in February this year.
Now Hukum Singh's daughter Mriganka Singh is contesting from the seat. Apart from the BJP's traditional upper caste Hindu vote, Mriganka Singh also has the loyalty of members of her own caste, Kairana's 1.4 lakh Hindu Gujjars.