Many ‘legacy’ seats in Uttar Pradesh spring a surprise

LUCKNOW: Many legacy seats in Uttar Pradesh sprang a surprise as prominent political figures failed to make a comeback.
The senior most parliamentarian from Uttar Pradesh, Maneka Gandhi, got defeated by a margin of about 45,000 votes from Sultanpur.
Samajwadi Party’s Rambhual Nishad won the seat from the saffron camp by securing more than 4.38 lakh votes in the poll battle.
The eight-time MP Maneka had earlier represented Pilibhit six times and Aonla (Bareilly) once before BJP shifted her to Sultanpur in 2019. She has also been a minister in the Centre for several terms.
In another embarrassment for the saffron camp, five-time MP and state minister Bhanu Pratap Verma, too, was pushed to the second spot from his bastion Jalaun.
Samajwadi Party’s Narayan Das Ahirwar brought him down in a straight fight by securing 5,30,180 votes. Verma lost by 53,898 votes.
In some respite, BJP’s kurmi face from eastern UP and state finance minister, Pankaj Chaudhary, managed to secure victory over his rival from the Congress party. Having been elected for the seventh time, Pankaj won by a margin of about 35,600 votes.
Similarly, in Kaiserganj (Gonda, Karan Bhushan Singh (33), son of six-time MP and strongman Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, defeated his rival from Samajwadi Party by 1,48,843 votes.
Having been involved in a controversy from the time former ace women wrestlers levelled allegations of sexual harassment against Singh, the former WPI chief was denied ticket by the saffron camp which chose Karan. Singh’s wife Ketaki, too, had been an MP from Gonda in the past while his older son Prateek is a two-time MLA from Gonda assembly constituency.
On the other hand, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav clinched Kannauj Lok Sabha from BJP by defeating Subrat Pathak by over 1.7 lakh votes.
Barring 2019, SP has held Kannauj in every general elections held since 1998.
Similarly, another turf of the Yadav family, Mainpuri, was once again retained by Akhilesh’s wife Dimple on Tuesday. Since 1996, Samajwadi Party candidate has never lost a general election from Mainpuri.