In Uttar Pradesh’s Ballia, BJP banks on legacy of two PMs as Samajwadi Party looks to play spoilsport

As Ballia gears up to vote in the final phase on June 1, the BJP candidate is out to reclaim his family legacy while the Samajwadi Party (SP) has reposed its faith in a leader who narrowly lost the 2019 polls.

While the BJP has fielded formerPrime Minister Chandra Shekhar’s son and two-time Ballia MP Neeraj Shekhar, the SP candidate is Sanatan Pandey, who lost in 2019 from the seat by a margin of just over 15,000 votes to sitting BJP MP Bharat Singh.

Besides the two, Lallan Singh of the BSP is also in the fray.

Businessman Rajesh Jaiswal from Thaterigali under Phephana Assembly seat says the contest is between the SP and BJP. “Both candidates have altered their campaign strategies keeping the caste matrix of the constituency in mind. Neeraj is seemingly expanding his voter outreach,” he says.

Ballia boasts of an electorate of 18 lakh, of which Brahmins and Scheduled Castes (SCs) constitute around 15% each while the Rajputs and Yadavs make up around 13% and 12%, respectively. Muslims constitute about 7% of the electorate.

While SP chief Akhilesh Yadav addressed a public meeting in Kataria on Sunday for Pandey, a Brahmin, Union Home Minister Amit Shah is scheduled to hold a rally here on May 29 for Neeraj Shekhar, a Rajput. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has addressed two meetings in the constituency. The BSP’s Lallan Singh is a Yadav.

The election is likely to be decided on which way the SCs and other numerically insignificant but collectively important castes like the Kushwahas, Pals, Nishads, Bhumihars, Kurmis and Rajbhars vote.

Ballia, one among the 13 Lok Sabha seats of UP which votes on June 1, has five Assembly constituencies falling under it. The SP holds three (Phephana, Bairia and Mohammadabad) while the