TCN Special Correspondent
New Delhi: Sambhal is one among the Lok Sabha constituencies in Uttar Pradesh where polling will be held on May 7 — third phase of ongoing general elections. Muslims constitute nearly half of the population here, yet the constituency has so far sent only one leader from the community to Parliament.
Shafiqur Rahman Barq was elected as an MP from here in 2009 and again in 2014. The BJP has also once won the seat, which came into existence in 1977.
In 2014, when the saffron party had won 71 out of 80 seats in Uttar Pradesh on its own, the lotus had bloomed here as well. However, it failed to repeat the victory in 2019.
From 1977 to 2014, the SP has won the seat for a maximum number of times. Yadav leaders have traditionally dominated the district by winning it six times. Samajwadi Party (SP) founder Mulayam Singh Yadav and his brother Ram Gopal Yadav were elected as MPs from Sambhal in 1998, 1999 and 2004 respectively.
In 1977, Janata Party candidate Shanti Devi had registered a landslide victory from here for the first time, though Congress’ Brijpal Singh Yadav snatched it from her in the 1980 elections. The grand old party retained the seat in the 1984 elections when Devi, who had by now crossed over to the Congress, once again emerged victorious.
In 1989 and 1991, Shripal Singh Yadav won from here as the Janata Dal candidate. In 2009 and 2019, Shafiqur Rahman Barq emerged victorious first as a BSP candidate and then as SP nominee.
This time again, the BJP is trying to repeat its 2014 performance by fielding Satyapal Singh Saini once again. Let us understand the political equations of the seat.
In 2014, BJP candidate Saini had defeated Barq. However, his victory margin was only 5,000 votes. But in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Barq defeated Saini as a SP candidate by 1,74,000 votes.
After Barq’s death, the SP has made his grandson and Kundarki MLA Ziaur Rahman Barq as its candidate.
According to Chanakya political consultancy, Muslims constitute 50% of Sambhal’s total population. Apart from Muslims, Yadavs account for 10% of the district’s total population.
The SP hopes to get support from both communities (the party’s traditional support base). There are 2.7 lakh Scheduled Caste voters in this seat.
The BSP factor
The BSP has also won the seat twice. In 1996, DP Yadav and in 2009, Barq won the seat on the BSP ticket. But Barq later crossed over to the SP.
Seeing the large concentration of Muslims, the BSP has pinned hope on Shaukat Ali. He has been MLA once on SP ticket.
Therefore, Sambhal is witnessing a triangular battle in this year’s election.
The effect of Acharya Pramod Krishnan
Acharya Pramod Krishnam, who had been with the Congress for a long time and was also the political advisor to the party’s National General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, has now joined the BJP.
He is the peethadishwar (head priest) of the Shri Kalki Dham. Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone of the Kalki Dham temple in a grand function here on February 19. The construction of the grand temple is in progress on war footing.
The BJP hopes that it can win again with the help of Krishnam and Hindutva.
Sambhal Lok Sabha seat has five assembly segments — Chandausi, Asmauli, Sambhal, Kundarki and Bilari. Among these, the SP won four seats in the 2022 Legislative Assembly, while the BJP added the reserved seat of Chandausi in its kitty.
Sambhal’s neighbouring Lok Sabha constituencies such as Moradabad, Rampur and Amroha also have a significant Muslim population.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP could not win these seats. But at that time, the SP, the BSP and the Rashtriya Lok Dal had contested in an alliance; whereas the RLD is with the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) this time and the SP and the Congress are contesting in the fray as partners of the INDIA alliance. The BSP is not a part of any political alliance and is contesting alone.