Mirzapur Lok Sabha constituency: Apna Dal (S)’s Anupriya Singh Patel vs SP’s Rajendra S Bind

Mirzapur Lok Sabha constituency will go to polls in June this year. The date of voting is 1 June ( Phase 7 ) and result is 4th June.

Apna Dal (S) candidate Anupriya Patel

Anupriya Patel, president of the Apna Dal (Sonelal) party, was inducted in Council of Ministers under the Narendra Modi-led NDA government in 2021.

The Apna Dal, which was formed by Sonelal Patel in early 90s. However, after his death, the party was divided into two factions. Apna Dal (Sonelal) formed in 2016, with Sonelal’s daughter and Union Minister Anupriya Patel, is in an alliance with the BJP both at the Centre as well as the state and has 13 MLAs in the state.

The 42-year-old is serving her second term as a Lok Sabha member and has earlier served as the Union Minister of State for Health during the first term of the NDA government.

She began her political career with the Apna Dal, a party formed in 1995 by her father, late Sonelal Patel, a popular leader among Kurmis, a backward caste with a presence in eastern UP and Bundelkhand.

However, ahead of the 2017 Assembly elections, Anupriya formed Apna Dal (S) after a dispute with her mother, who led the parent party. It claims to enjoy the support of Kurmis as well as non-Yadav OBC groups such as Kushwaha, Maurya, Nishad, Pal and Saini in UP.

The breakaway party continued the alliance with the BJP and in the 2017 Assembly elections, it contested 11 seats and won 9.

Before her political career, Anupriya worked as a Professor at Amity University, and has an MBA from Chhatrapati Shahuji Maharaj University, Kanpur. She’s married to Ashish Patel, a member of the UP Legislative Council.

Samajwadi Party’s Rajendra S. Bind:

Samajwadi Party (SP) has fielded Rajendra S Bind from Mirzapur Lok Sabha seat to contest Apna Dal (S). Bind is originally a resident of Gyanpur in Bhadohi district. He was earlier the national president of Bind Social Welfare Association. He was associated with social work in Gyanpur and Bhadohi since the beginning.

Bind joined the Samajwadi Party just six months ago. He was trying to get SP ticket from Bhadohi, but after Bhadohi Lok Sabha seat went to BSP, SP has fielded him as its candidate from Mirzapur parliamentary seat.

Bind has a big business in Mumbai. He is known as an industrialist. By making Rajendra, a resident of Suriyawan, Jagatpur of Bhadohi, a candidate, SP has tried to woo around 1.5 lakh Bind voters of the district. Binds are believed to vote for BSP. In such a situation, SP candidates will try to take lead by taking the vote bank of BSP. In the last Lok Sabha elections, BSP’s Samudra Devi Bind got 217457 votes. She stood second.