SP replaces Meerut name, fields ‘giant killer’ against BJP’s ‘Ram’ Arun Govil

WITH THE replacement of Bhanu Pratap Singh with “giant killer” Sardhana MLA Atul Pradhan as its candidate from the Meerut Lok Sabha seat, the Samajwadi Party is set to pose a tough challenge to the BJP’s Arun Govil, who played Lord Ram in Ramayana.

Pradhan’s entry, SP insiders say, will ensure that the Meerut contest will not be a one-sided one, as seemed likely with “outsider” Bhanu Singh in the race.

While Pradhan unsuccessfully contested the Sardhana Assembly seat several times starting 2012, in the 2022 Assembly polls, he had defeated firebrand BJP leader Sangeet Som by a margin of over 18,000 votes.

Expressing his gratitude to SP president Akhilesh Yadav for giving the Meerut ticket to him, Pradhan said, “We will continue our fight for the poor, youth and farmers. I was born and brought up in Meerut, a place which has been my karmabhoomi since my student days.”

A member of the Gurjar community, Pradhan (41) has been associated with the SP since he graduated from Chaudhary Charan Singh University. He was previously president of the party’s Chatra Sabha (student wing). Pradhan’s wife Seema was elected Sardhana zilla parishad chief in 2015 and last year unsuccessfully contested the Meerut mayoral polls with the SP’s backing.

The SP’s decision to field Bhanu Singh initially from the seat had stumped party leaders. A Supreme Court lawyer and a resident of Sahibabad, near Delhi, Singh had contested the 2017 Assembly polls from Sikandrabad seat as the candidate of the Rashtriya Janhit Sangharsh Party, an outfit he floated, and polled just over 1,000 votes.

Singh is a lawyer in the Supreme Court and has been vocal against the use of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), which he claims are not foolproof. He was also a part of the