Live : Muzaffarnagar Assembly Election 2023

In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Sanjeev Kumar Balyan was elected from Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh on a BJP ticket. He received 6,53,391 votes. His closest opponent was Kadir Rana from the Bahujan Samaj Party or BSP who received 2,52,241 votes.

Muzaffarnagar is considered a crucial seat in parliamentary elections. Months before the last general elections in 2014, Muzaffarnagar had witnessed one of the most violent riots in its history. More than sixty people were killed and about 50,000 were displaced in the September 2013 violence. In the Lok Sabha polls, held about six months later, Mr Balyan defeated Mr Rana by a margin of more than four lakh votes.

Sanjeev Balyan, after being elected to parliament, also held the portfolio of Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Processing and in 2016 was given the charge of Minister of State for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation.

The Muzaffarnagar seat came into existence in 1952 and since then has remained a Congress dominated constituency till 1967. The seat remained a Communist Party stronghold from 1967 to 1977.

From 1977 to 1980, a candidate of Bhartiya Lok Dal party was elected to parliament. In 1980, Janta Party won on the Muzaffarnagar seat followed by Dharamvir Singh from Congress in 1984. In 1989, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed from Janta Dal won on the Muzaffarnagar seat. From 1991 to 1996, this seat was won by BJP candidates.

In 1999, Congress candidate S Saiduzzaman was elected. In 2004, Munawwar Hasan from Samajwadi Party won while in 2009 Kadir Rana from Bahujan Samaj Party was elected.

Muzaffarnagar voted in the first phase of the 2019 General Election on April 11. Sanjeev Balyan was picked by the BJP once again. He is up against Ajit Singh, chief of Rashtriya Lok Dal - one of the constituents of the opposition "Grand Alliance".

Ajit Singh handed over his bastion - Baghpat - to son Jayant Chaudhary and is contesting from Muzaffarnagar for the first time.