LUCKNOW: The seat of power in Uttar Pradesh, state capital Lucknow has an obvious and quintessential ‘Nawabi’ flavour to politics. Set to vote in phase-4 of 7-phased state assembly elections on Wednesday, stakes are high in Lucknow for two prominent ministers of the Yogi cabinet and a high-profile ED officer who took VRS last month to test the poll waters.
While Brajesh Pathak is in the fray from Lucknow Cantt and Ashutosh Tandon, son of BJP veteran late Lalji Tandon, will test the waters from Lucknow East. Rajeshwar Singh, former joint director at Enforcement Directorate, who not so long ago was investigating many high-profile cases, is now a BJP candidate from the Sarojininagar assembly segment.
Both Lucknow Cantt and Lucknow East are urban seats with a significant chunk of upper caste voters. While Pathak is facing three-time corporator Surendra Singh Gandhi alias Raju Gandhi from Samajwadi Party and Anil Pandey from BSP, Tandon is fighting it out against SP national spokesperson Anurag Singh Bhadouriya and advocate Ashish Kumar Sinha from BSP. In 2017, SP had fielded Aparna Yadav, the younger daughter-in-law of SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav, from Cantt against the then Congress turncoat Rita Bahuguna Joshi who had contested on BJP ticket and had won the seat with a comfortable margin of over 33,000 votes.
Now Aparna, who joined the BJP recently and was expecting the ticket from Cantt seat, is seeking votes for Pathak.
Similarly, Rajeshwar Singh is facing the challenge from Dr Abhishek Mishra, an IIM-Lucknow product and former minister in the SP government. While BSP has fielded a Muslim – Jalis Khan-- against Rajeshwar Singh, Congress has placed its bet on Rudra Daman Singh, also a Thakur.
In all, Lucknow has nine assembly segments of which the ruling BJP had won eight in 2017. One seat of Mohanlalaganj in the rural pocket of the state capital had gone to the SP. Other BJP candidates to watch out for are Jai Devi from Malihabad (SC), wife of Union minister and BJP MP Kaushal Kishore, and veteran worker and functionary Yogesh Shukla from Bakshi Ka Talab. A similar situation prevails in Mohanlalganj with Amresh Kumar from BJP taking on former SP MP Sushila Saroj.
On the other side Samajwadi Party has fielded strong contenders Ravidas Mehrotra from Lucknow Central, Arman from Lucknow West and Gomti Yadav from Bakshi Ka Talab, all having the potential to sway voters towards their side. Congress has fielded anti-CAA protestor Sadaf Jafar from Lucknow West. Zafar was arrested in connection with the stir that had turned violent leading to large-scale arson in state capital in December 2019.
As per the pulse on the ground, voters of urban Lucknow including seats – Lucknow East, West, North, Central, and Lucknow Cantt are voicing concern for local issues ranging from traffic blues to illegal construction and narrow lanes, betterment of infrastructure and cleanliness. However, people are impressed by the performance of the incumbent government over uninterrupted power supply, refurbished law and order, and the issue of nationalism. Even the Modi factor is also playing out on the ground prominently. BJP had won all five constituencies in 2017.
While Diwakar Mishra, of Lucknow-North, pitches in for the BJP saying every issue becomes irrelevant when it comes to the nation first. Mishra, a professor in a local degree college, claims this is not a normal election. “This election will decide the fate of not only UP but the nation also. My vote will go to the party that talks of nationalism and put the nation first. I can resolve my minor issue myself. The government has a bigger task at hand,” says Mishra supported by Rajneesh Jain, dealing in the trade of chikan clothes.
“Hit by back-to-back waves of the pandemic, trade took an obvious hit but the third wave has passed easily with losses to trade being not as much as the second wave. We are getting back on track and the government’s one district, one product (ODOP) scheme is helping out us in a big way,” says Jain. Chikan business is to the tune of over Rs 10,000 crore annually in and around Lucknow.
However, Ajit Sonkar of Lucknow Central is irritated with frequent traffic jams. “Traffic jam is a permanent issue here. No government has been able to resolve it,” says Sonkar, who owns a medical store in Qaiserbagh. For Javed Alam of Aminabad, encroachment has been a major issue. “Authorities do not pay heed to regular complaints lodged against encroachments in Aminabad which is one of the most prominent markets of Lucknow,” says Alam. It slows the traffic leading to long jams, he adds.
Gyanesh Verma of Lucknow East feels that lawmakers should become more active and remain in constant touch with the people after getting elected. Manya of the same assembly segment feels that the Yogi government should come back and bring the promises of investment to the ground. “More opportunities for youth should be generated and a better atmosphere for business be created. Only BJP can do it,” says Manya, a boutique owner. However, Mohammad Faraaz is fed up with the cancellation of papers paper leaks, and delayed results of competitive exams.
“Sometimes the wait is so long that aspirant becomes overage,” he substantiates his point.
“Roads should be taken proper care of,” says Dr LD Mishra of Vineet Khand in posh Gomti Nagar. He also wants the health infrastructure to be improved further. “There should be no paucity of doctors. Appointment of doctors should be made a priority,” he says.
Sudhakar Pandey and Vinit Singh of Rajajipuram in Lucknow West are of the view that the elected MLA should be readily available. “Power supply has improved a lot. During COVID second wave, oxygen paucity was there but the government was present on every door with free medicines and ration. It is commendable. Civic woes like sewage, drainage, and garbage disposal need more attention,” says Pandey.
On shifting the focus to rural pockets of Lucknow comprising three segments including Malihabad, Bakshi Ka Talab, and Mohanlalganj. In Malihabad, a reserved seat has around three lakh voters and is identified as one of the main centres of the famous Mango belt, a combination of Yadav, Pasi, and Muslims are believed to be the deciding factor. Here the ruling party’s sitting MLA Jai Devi is a tough challenge from Surender Kumar of SP and also Jagdish Rawat of BSP. Around 23,589 hectares of land in Malihabad is covered under mango cultivation.
Similarly, people in Mohanlalganj, another reserved seat, complain of lack of development. As per the pulse of the ground, Samajwadi Party, which had won the seat in 2017, has an upper edge this time as well. However, free ration, free power connection, cylinders, houses, and toilets have a resonance among voters on the ground. Having Yadavs around 45,000 and scheduled castes around 1.25 lakh, voters of Malihabad admit that the BJP has been able to sensitize people over the issue of Hindutva. However, unemployment is an issue here.
“Our vote, even if given to the BJP, would be counted as given to SP. So why not give it to SP,” says Dinkar Yadav, 65, a farmer. He is interrupted by his son Anil, a science graduate and preparing for civil services. “It is very difficult to convince the older generation. They will go with SP. However, youngsters will vote as per their choice,” says Anil of Kankaha village of Mohanlalganj.
However, Suresh Lodhi, owning a paan kiosk is happy that the BJP has fielded its own candidate from the seat, a stronghold of SP and BSP, for the first time. “Please come on March 10 to see the difference,” says Suresh having the caste configuration of Mohanlalganj on his fingertips. However, common voters crave development in the constituency.
In Bakshi ka Talab, the fight is tough for the saffron brigade which has replaced the incumbent MLA Arvind Trivedi with a new face but a veteran BJP worker Yogesh Shukla. SP has fielded the popular face Gomti Yadav and BSP has fielded a Muslim Salauddin Siddiqui.
Interesting contests are also unfolding in other districts of the Lucknow division. Among the ones which are being closely tracked are Bangarmau and Purwa in Unnao. During the Modi wave, BJP managed to sweep Bangarmau for the first time in 2017. The BJP MLA of that time Kuldeep Singh Sengar was convicted in a rape case following which bypolls were held. BJP had secured the seat yet again and is trying to repeat its performance. The party has fielded sitting MLA Shrikant Katiyar while SP has Munna Alvi. Meanwhile, in Purwa, a seat that was won by the BSP in 2017, BJP has fielded Anil Singh, the sitting BSP MLA who switched sides in 2018.
In Sitapur, seven out of nine seats were won by the BJP. Political observers feel that the fight is intense on four seats including Sevata, Maholi, Misrikh (reserved), and Hargaon.
In Hardoi, the Naresh Agarwal family is dominating the scene. Naresh Agarwal’s son Nitin joined BJP to contest the polls. His family has a lot of clout in Hardoi. Anil Verma from SP and Shobhit Pathak from BSP are fighting against him.