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As Ballia gears up to vote in the final phase on June 1, the BJP candidate is out to reclaim his family legacy while the Samajwadi Party (SP) has reposed its faith in a leader who narrowly lost the 2019 polls.
While the BJP has fielded former Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar’s son and two-time Ballia MP Neeraj Shekhar, the SP candidate is Sanatan Pandey, who lost in 2019 from the seat by a margin of just over 15,000 votes to sitting BJP MP Bharat Singh.
Besides the two, Lallan Singh of the BSP is also in the fray.
Businessman Rajesh Jaiswal from Thaterigali under Phephana Assembly seat says the contest is between the SP and BJP. “Both candidates have altered their campaign strategies keeping the caste matrix of the constituency in mind. Neeraj is seemingly expanding his voter outreach,” he says.
Ballia boasts of an electorate of 18 lakh, of which Brahmins and Scheduled Castes (SCs) constitute around 15% each while the Rajputs and Yadavs make up around 13% and 12%, respectively. Muslims constitute about 7% of the electorate.
While SP chief Akhilesh Yadav addressed a public meeting in Kataria on Sunday for Pandey, a Brahmin, Union Home Minister Amit Shah is scheduled to hold a rally here on May 29 for Neeraj Shekhar, a Rajput. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has addressed two meetings in the constituency. The BSP’s Lallan Singh is a Yadav.
The election is likely to be decided on which way the SCs and other numerically insignificant but collectively important castes like the Kushwahas, Pals, Nishads, Bhumihars, Kurmis and Rajbhars vote.
Ballia, one among the 13 Lok Sabha seats of UP which votes on June 1, has five Assembly constituencies falling under it. The SP holds three (Phephana, Bairia and Mohammadabad) while the BJP and its ally Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) hold Ballianagar and Zahoorabad, respectively.
Dr M S Farooqui, a resident of Kasim Bazar Crossing in the Ballia Nagar Assembly constituency, says: “Voters from the SC community are supporting both the candidates. People like Neeraj because of his good image. Some members of the Muslim community are also supporting him, but a majority of them are expected to vote for Pandey.”
Apart from the fact that he is Chandra Shekhar’s son, the BJP seems to be banking on Neeraj’s past association with the SP. Chandra Shekhar represented the constituency eight times between 1977 and 2007. Following his death in 2007, Neeraj won the subsequent bypoll as an SP candidate and retained the seat in the 2009 polls. After he lost the 2014 polls, he was nominated to the Rajya Sabha by the SP. However, later, he switched to the BJP and became its nominee in the Upper House.
While Neeraj could not be contacted for comment, BJP Ballia district president Sanjay Yadav told The Indian Express that the “impactful work” done by the Centre will help the party. “Apart from strong family legacy, Neeraj is benefiting from the ‘nationwide Modi wave’,” he says.
Pandey, who has lost five Assembly elections in the past and won once (in 2007, from Chlakar), claims the people are “dissatisfied with the lack of action in the area by the BJP”.
Last month, he courted controversy after allegedly threatening the district election officer (DEO), over which a case was registered against him. The Uttar Pradesh Police accused Pandey of exerting “undue influence” in the electoral process.
