In battle for Ambedkar Nagar bastion, BSP on back foot as it faces turncoats on BJP, SP sides

The party lost the seat to the BJP in 2014, but again won it back in the 2019 elections.

This time too, the BSP’s influence appears to be omnipresent in the Ambedkar Nagar seat, albeit in a different way — the SP and the BJP both have fielded former BSP leaders.

The incumbent MP Ritesh Pandey had won the seat in 2019 on the BSP’s ticket by about 96,000 votes against Mukut Bihari of the BJP. Pandey, however, switched to the BJP in February this year, saying that “he had almost lost link with the BSP and its top leadership”.

Pandey, who had also won the seat in 2009 as a BSP candidate, has been fielded by the BJP this time.

The SP’s Katehari MLA Lalji Verma, who was with the BSP until 2021, is the party’s nominee in Ambedkar Nagar.

After Pandey’s crossover to the BJP, the BSP has fielded former Jalalpur Nagar Palika chairman Qamar Hayat Ansari as its candidate from the constituency.

Each of these candidates have been reaching out to the electorate with unique pitches — and the contest seems to be close.

While Pandey is seeking votes with a promise of bringing industrial growth to the region now that he is on the ruling party’s side, Verma is seeking votes citing his old connection with the belt as a six-term MLA as well as a former minister. Amidst this, the BSP is hoping to consolidate the Dalit and minority votes in its favour.

Triangular contest

On the ground, the voters seem divided. Some are even saying that they are faced with a dilemma on whom to choose.

Jai Narayan, a farmer from the Chandrapur village in Ambedkar Nagar, sums up the confusion.

“Kul milake yahan tikoniye larai hai.. kuch clear nahi hai.. Ration, road ki baat karen to BJP ka parla bhari lagta hai magar BSP ka bhi thik vote hai aur Lalji Verma ka apna vyawhar hai.. Kuch keh pana mushkil hai (It is a triangular fight here. Nothing is clear. If we think of ration and roads, the BJP seems to be the choice. But BSP also has votes and SP’s Verma has his own base. It is hard to say what will happen,” he says.

Yasir Ali, who owns a shoe shop in the Koncha area of the constituency, says it is “hard to say” who could win although “many are looking towards the SP for a change”. “There is not much of the BSP this time,” he adds.

The BJP believes that with Pandey on its side, it has a wining chance. The party is also counting on the support of Pandey’s father, the Jalalpur MLA Rakesh Pandey, as well as SP Goshaiganj MLA Abhay Singh. They had both cross-voted in favour of the BJP in the last Rajya Sabha elections.

Pandey has been going all out over his developmental pitch. He has promised to bring the Adani group’s “Silo project” to the Bewani area and another project of the Reliance Bio Energy to the constituency. He has also promised two industrial corridors along the Purvanchal highway and the Gorakhpur Link Expressway.

Pandey is also speaking at length about jobs, houses, electricity, and road projects of the BJP.

At a meeting in the Goshaiganj area of the constituency, which falls under Ayodhya district, Pandey said: “Yuva ko naukri dilane ke liye do audyogik chetra dilwa raha hun.. Yahan factory lagenge rojgar milega..” (In order to get jobs for youth, I am giving you two industrial corridors”

The SP has been raking up the “betrayal” of some of its sitting MLAs.

Lalji Verma is asking people to take revenge of the “dhokha (betrayal)” by Pandey’s family, referring to the cross-voting.

It is also taking heart from the fact that the 2022 Assembly polls, when the SP was able to win all the five Assembly seats under this Lok Sabha constituency, including Jalalpur.

The Ambedkar Nagar constituency has a 25% Dalit population and a 13% Muslim population — and the BSP is hoping this traditional vote base of the party here would help it clinch the seat.