Union Minister Ajay Mishra Teni will once again contest the Lok Sabha elections from Uttar Pradesh's Lakhimpur Kheri on a BJP ticket. Mr Mishra, the Minister of State (MoS) for Home Affairs, will seek re-election for a third consecutive term from Lakhimpur Kheri.
There were doubts if BJP would retain Ajay Mishra Teni as a candidate after his son Ashish Mishra was named as the main accused in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case that claimed the lives of four people. The incident occurred during the farmers' agitation in 2021 when Ashish Teni allegedly mowed down protesting farmers in his SUV.
Here are 5 facts about Ajay Mishra Teni:
1) Born on September 25, 1960, Ajay Mishra Teni completed his schooling in Lakhimpur Kheri before moving to Kanpur for higher education. Mr Mishra received his Bachelor of Science degree from Christ Church College, Kanpur. He then pursued an LLB from Kanpur University's DAV College.
2) In 2007, Ajay Mishra Teni contested the UP Assembly polls from Lakhimpur Kheri's Nighasan seat as a BJP candidate and lost to Samajwadi Party's Krishna Gopal Patel. Five years later, he was elected a legislator to the UP Assembly from the same seat.
3) He then contested the 2014 Lok Sabha elections from Lakhimpur Kheri. After 10 years of Congress-led UPA rule, the Narendra Modi wave swept the polls and Mr Mishra became a parliamentarian. He defeated his closest rival, Bahujan Samaj Party's Arvind Giri, by over 1 lakh votes.
4) During the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party came together to fight the BJP. Ajay Mishra Teni not only won the Lakhimpur Kheri seat but also widened his win margin to over 2 lakh votes. During his second term as an MP, he served as a member of the Standing Committee on Foods, Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution. He was also appointed a member of the Committee on Public Accounts. Mr Mishra was sworn in as the Union Minister of State Home Affairs during the cabinet expansion in 2021.
5) Ajay Mishra Teni found himself in the middle of massive controversy after his son Ashish Mishra was arrested as the main accused for the killings of four farmers during a protest march against three farm laws. The incident took place on October 3, 2021, when farmers were marching to protest Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya's visit to Banbirpur, Ajay Mishra Teni's native village. The deputy CM was supposed to arrive at the site by helicopter but changed his plans at the last moment. When protesting farmers came to know about the change in plan, they blocked the road to Banbirpur. A car, which allegedly had Ashish Mishra inside, ran over protesting farmers, killing four of them and injuring several others.