The sole UP seat for Rajbhar leader in NDA alliance, Ghosi, proves tough going

Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh, there was much wooing of the Rajbhar vote. Ultimately though, the party claiming to represent their interests, Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP), got one Lok Sabha constituency in its seat-sharing arrangement with the BJP, and SBSP chief Om Prakash Rajbhar chose his son Arvind for it.

As Ghosi votes on Saturday, in the last and final phase of the Lok Sabha polls, Arvind seems locked in a tough, three-corner contest, with the Samajwadi Party (SP) fielding Rajeev Kumar Rai and the BSP hoping to retain the seat it won in 2019.

Prominent leaders of all three contending parties – Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for the BJP, and former CMs Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati for the SP and BSP, respectively – addressed public meetings in Ghosi.

The BJP and SP are attempting to capitalise on the fact that the BSP’s incumbent MP, Atul Kumar Singh, also known as Atul Rai, spent his entire five-year term in jail on charges of rape and abetment of suicide. However, Atul Kumar’s victory in 2019 had been massive, securing 50.27% of the votes, and finishing 1.22 lakh votes ahead of the BJP’s Hari Narayan.

The BSP and SP had contested as allies in 2019.

In the 2022 UP elections which it won comfortably, the BJP had lost all the five Assembly seats falling under Ghosi. While three of the segments had been won by the SP, the BSP and SBSP had got one each.

This is one reason that the BJP wooed and brought Rajbhar back into the NDA fold in February, around four years after he broke ties with it. Inducted as a Cabinet minister in the Adityanath government, it is time now for Rajbhar to prove his worth to the BJP – and hence it is crucial for him that son Arvind wins from Ghosi.

However, not all BJP