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BSP, BJP and Cong vie for Bundelkhand seats
Lucknow, Apr 29: The electioneering in Uttar Pradesh`s Bundelkhand region has reached a feverish pitch with the BSP, BJP and Congress leaving no stone unturned to connect with the voters and solicit support for party candidates on the four seats at stake.
Lucknow, Apr 29: The electioneering in Uttar Pradesh's Bundelkhand region has reached a feverish pitch with the BSP, BJP and Congress leaving no stone unturned to connect with the voters and solicit support for party candidates on the four seats at stake.
Polls in this backward and poverty-ridden region are scheduled in the second phase in the state on May 5.
Post independence, the Congress and left parties established their supremacy here after the 1952 Lok Sabha polls, while the BSP came into existence in 1989. Its growing popularity has already created ripples among other parties. However, the BJP managed a foothold in this region around the Ayodhya demolition time and went on to win the seat during most elections, except in 1999. In the last LS polls, the BSP had won three seats while Congress wrested one.
This time the BSP has concentrated on nominating candidates based on caste equations as there are large number of Dalit and Muslim voters in the region.
Except for Jhansi seat where the BSP lost the last polls, the party has retained sitting members -- Ramsajivan from Banda, Ashok Kumar Chandel from Hamirpur and Brij Lal Khabri from Jalaun. Former state minister and a close confidant of BSP supremo Mayawati, Babu Lal Kushwaha, an MLC, is the party candidate from Jhansi. The Congress on the other hand has changed its sitting member Sujan Singh Bundela from Jhansi and fielded his distant relative cine star Rajendra Pratap alias Raja Bundela.
The BJP has changed its candidates in all the three seats and is banking on the upper caste votes. In the 1998 and 1991 polls, the BJP had won all the four seats in the region while in 1996 it had won three, losing from Hamirpur.
The ruling SP is contesting all four seats and its leaders are making all out efforts to dent the fortress of the BSP and BJP.
The region is also witness to the terror of dreaded dacoit Dadua and other smaller dacoit gangs, which operate in nearby jungles of UP-Madhya Pradesh border. A political observer said support of Dadua gang to the BSP gives an edge to the party against opponents. Presently Dadua's brother is a BSP MLA from Allahabad district.
Bureau Report
Post independence, the Congress and left parties established their supremacy here after the 1952 Lok Sabha polls, while the BSP came into existence in 1989. Its growing popularity has already created ripples among other parties. However, the BJP managed a foothold in this region around the Ayodhya demolition time and went on to win the seat during most elections, except in 1999. In the last LS polls, the BSP had won three seats while Congress wrested one.
This time the BSP has concentrated on nominating candidates based on caste equations as there are large number of Dalit and Muslim voters in the region.
Except for Jhansi seat where the BSP lost the last polls, the party has retained sitting members -- Ramsajivan from Banda, Ashok Kumar Chandel from Hamirpur and Brij Lal Khabri from Jalaun. Former state minister and a close confidant of BSP supremo Mayawati, Babu Lal Kushwaha, an MLC, is the party candidate from Jhansi. The Congress on the other hand has changed its sitting member Sujan Singh Bundela from Jhansi and fielded his distant relative cine star Rajendra Pratap alias Raja Bundela.
The BJP has changed its candidates in all the three seats and is banking on the upper caste votes. In the 1998 and 1991 polls, the BJP had won all the four seats in the region while in 1996 it had won three, losing from Hamirpur.
The ruling SP is contesting all four seats and its leaders are making all out efforts to dent the fortress of the BSP and BJP.
The region is also witness to the terror of dreaded dacoit Dadua and other smaller dacoit gangs, which operate in nearby jungles of UP-Madhya Pradesh border. A political observer said support of Dadua gang to the BSP gives an edge to the party against opponents. Presently Dadua's brother is a BSP MLA from Allahabad district.
Bureau Report