Rampur victory gives edge to BJP for upcoming polls

Lucknow: The success of the Rampur Lok Sabha seat, which is dominated by Muslim population, is crucial in many ways for the BJP. This victory has not only given the party a psychological edge for the upcoming election challenges, but has also strengthened the confidence of the party strategists that if a concerted effort is made, it is possible to succeed in demolishing the opposition strongholds.

Apart from the hard work of the organization, the factors which played a significant role behind the BJP’s victory were the selection of OBC candidate, transfer of base vote bank of BSP in favour of BJP as well as the rhetoric of Azam Khan. Because of this, the supporters of the Nawab family, who were already miffed with the decision of the Congress not to contest the elections, turned towards the BJP candidate. It is worth mentioning that in the year 2014, Dr. Nepal Singh of BJP won this seat by defeating Naseer Aham Khan of SP by 23,485 votes.

Then it was believed that it was because of Muslim candidates of Congress and BSP that BJP could get victory as Nawab Kazim Ali Khan of Congress got more than 1.5 lakh votes while Akbar Hussain of BSP also managed to garner 81,000 votes. After this, the SP contested the 2019 elections in alliance with the BSP, from this seat SP’s Azam Khan defeated BJP candidate Jaya Prada Nahata by a margin of over one lakh votes by securing 5,59,177 votes. However, in that election also BJP got 4, 49,180 votes which was 42.33 percent of the total votes. Congress did not participate in the by-elections this time, while BSP had decided not to field any candidate from Rampur seat.

Congress’s five-term MLA Nawab Naved Mian had announced the support of the BJP candidate, while a large chunk of Dalit voters, who were considered the base voters of BSP, also preferred to support the BJP. As a result, Ghanshyam Lodhi of BJP got 3 Lakh 67 Thousand 397 votes and defeated Asim Raza of SP by a margin of around 42 thousand votes. Political experts insist that the BJP camp, energized by the victory of this difficult challenge from Rampur, will do its best to win those seats in Rohilkhand and the western region where the party’s performance has been relatively weak.