BJP goes out all to win Majhawan, Yogi rally today
In election after election, caste equations dominate every other issue in the constituency which has a sizeable number of Dalit, OBC and Brahmin voters
Going all out to win the Majhawan assembly seat in Mirzapur, the BJP has stepped up the tempo of the campaign which is expected to reach its peak on Sunday when chief minister Yogi Adityanath addresses a rally, 10 days before voting takes place in the by-election on November 20.
Half-a-dozen Uttar Pradesh ministers have addressed public meetings in the constituency and several MLAs and MLCs have been roped in for door-to-door campaigning.
Adityanath’s public meeting is scheduled at the Gandhi Vidyalaya Inter College ground and he will interact with voters at the venue, according to Mirzapur district unit BJP president Brijbhushan Singh.
While the BJP has fielded former MLA Suchismita Maurya, the SP has reposed faith in Dr Jyoti Bind.
The election has been necessitated as the assembly seat fell vacant after NISHAD party MLA Vinod Bind was elected the Bhadohi MP on the BJP ticket in June 2024. Vinod Bind had won the assembly seat in 2022.
Deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya has held three public meetings in Majhawan, while the other deputy CM Brajesh Pathak has addressed one public meeting.
Uttar Pradesh minister Anil Rajbhar is camping in Mirzapur to oversee the campaign. SBSP chief and UP minister Om Prakash Rajbhar has addressed a public meeting in Mirzapur and listed the schemes and achievements of the government.
Union minister Anupriya Patel, who represents Mirzapur in the Lok Sabha and is part of the BJP-led NDA, has also hit the campaign trail, holding several public meetings.
Other prominent UP ministers who have campaigned here include Girish Yadav, Surya Pratap Shahi, and Ashish Patel, who has started door-to-door campaigning along with public meetings here.
In addition, MLAs Bhupesh Choubey, Sunil Patel, Anurag Patel, Ramashankar Patel, MLC Vineet Singh and Dharmendra Rai have been roped in to seek votes.
Kanchawa Vyapar Mandal president Anand Gupta said the Majhawan area lacks a degree college, adding that lack of public transport facilities and good health facilities add to the inconvenience of people.
Abhishek Gupta, a senior office bearer of the Vyapar Mandal, said proper development in Majhawan has remained a distant dream.
In election after election, caste equations dominated every other issue, said Santosh Kumar, a Mirzapur-based trader.
Majhawan is one of the five assembly constituencies in Mirzapur district and the voters here have often exercised a different political choice in successive elections.
Since the Majhawan constituency came into being in 1967, voters elected MLAs of different parties in the successive assembly elections till1977.
In 1967, Bechan Ram of the Congress was the winner followed by Ram Nihore Ram of the Bharatiya Jansangh (BJS) in 1969.
In 1974, Rudra Prasada of the Congress wrested the seat from the BJS. Riding the Janata Party wave, Shivadas Tripathi won the seat in 1977.
Lokpati Tripathi of the Congress won the Majhawan seat in 1980 and 1985, becoming a minister in the Congress government in the state.
In 1989, the Janata Dal’s Rudra Prasad wrested the seat from the Congress.
Majhawan turned into a Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) stronghold from 1991 to 2012, except for 1996.
The BSP’s Bhagwat Pal won the seat in 1991 and 1993. Ramesh Chandra Bind (BSP) achieved a hat-trick, winning in 2002, 2007 and 2012.
The BJP first won the seat in 1996 when its candidate Ramchandra Maurya emerged victorious. In 2017, the BJP’s Suchismita Maurya bagged the seat.
According to the district election office, Mirzapur, the Majhawan assembly constituency has 3,99,259 voters, including 1,88,136 women and 2,11,105 men.
CASTE MOSAIC
The Brahmin and Kshatriya voters made a formidable combination and decided the outcome in the seat till 1985 but the entire political scenario changed with the emergence of regional parties from the late 1980s onwards.
Now, Dalits and OBCs account for over 2 lakh voters with a decisive say in the election. OBC and Dalit candidates have won the seat in successive elections in recent years.
