UP Assembly Polls 2017: In Azamgarh minus its MP Mulayam, Akhilesh Yadav sets upon uphill task

“There has no doubt been discussion among the public that Mulayam should come as this is his constituency,” admits district Congress chief Hawaldar Singh. He adds quickly that Mulayam’s absence will not make much of a difference. “Everyone is with Akhilesh now… The young are with him.”

The Congress is not contesting any of these 10 seats. It had asked for one, held by the BSP, but the SP turned it down.
Of the 10 seats in the district, five are segments of Mulayam’s Lok Sabha seat and five of Lalganj Lok Sabha seat. In 2014, Mulayam led all five segments of Azamgarh while the BJP led in all five of Lalganj. Senior party leaders say that in half the seats, the SP is in a neck-to-neck fight with the BSP and the BJP.

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Five of the seats — Didarganj, Nizamabad, Gopalpur, Sagri and Mubarakpur — have a strong Muslim-Yadav presence, crucial to the SP’s arithmetic. But in Gopalpur, sitting MLA Waseem Ahmed, a minister, was denied a ticket in the Akhilesh-versus-Shivpal Yadav tussle. And in Sagri, the SP denied the ticket to sitting MLA Abhay Narayan Patel.

If these could affect the SP’s prospects, it has one more worry. The Rashtriya Ulema Council, with its headquarters in Azamgarh, has decided to back the BSP. The SP’s hopes of consolidation of the Muslim vote now rest largely on its alliance with the Congress.

In Phoolpur-Pawai, a seat the SP won last time by just 500 votes, the BSP has fielded a Muslim candidate, Abul Qais Azmi. The BJP, which led the segment in the Lok Sabha polls, has fielded former Azamgarh MP Ramakant Yadav’s son Arun. The SP candidate, sitting MLA Shyam Bahadur Singh Yadav, belongs to the same caste, which could divide that vote.

In Lalganj assembly seat, the SP and BJP candidates belong to the (Saroj) Paswan caste; the BSP candidate is a Jatav. “There is some difficulty because of a possible division in the Paswan vote,” said an SP leader.

In Mehnagar, BJP ally SBSP and the SP have fielded people of the same caste. In Sagri, the BSP’s Vandana Singh, whose husband Sarvesh Singh Sipu was murdered some years ago, is giving a tough fight to the SP. In Azamgarh city, SP candidate Durga Prasad Yadav minister and seven-time MLA, appears comfortably placed.