The Bharatiya Janata Party will be looking to retain its stronghold, the Lucknow West assembly seat once again in 2022 as the Samajwadi Party will be eyeing to repeat its 2012 performance, the only time when the SP had won from here. In 2017, BJP’s Suresh Kumar Srivastava had defeated SP’s Mohammad Rehan. This seat has mostly been in possession of BJP.
The first election to this seat was held in 1967, in which Jan Sangh’s S. Sharma had won. For the first time in 1989, the BJP’s support base increased and this seat was occupied by the party. At the same time, in 1991 and 1993 also Ramkumar Shukla waved the flag of victory. The winning streak of BJP did not stop and Lalji Tandon won from here for three consecutive times in 1996, 2002 and 2007. However, in the 2009 by-elections, Congress’s SK Shukla won from here. In the 2012 elections, SP’s Mohammad Rehan defeated BJP’s Suresh Kumar Srivastava.
This time, however, BJP has changed its candidate and has fielded Anjani Srivasatava. Meanwhile the Samajwadi Party has also changed its candidate and has fielded Armaan Khan, who had fought the 2017 elections on a BSP ticket. The concentration of Muslim and Kayasth community voters on this seat has prompted the parties to choose their candidates accordingly. The Aam Aadmi Party has fielded Rajeev Bakshi from this seat while the Congress has fielded Shahana Siddiqui from Lucknow West assembly seat.
Speaking to News18, Samajwadi Party candidate Armaan Khan said, “We have been working on ground among the people for the last eight years and this time we are sure that we will win with a good margin. I have stood with the people of this constituency in their good and bad times. This time, along with national issues like unemployment and inflation, there is a long list of local issues as well. There are problems of water, sewer and roads which have not been addressed by the incumbent legislator. Also there are not good medical facilities, along with a shortage of good Degree Colleges for girls here. Sixty per cent of this constituency consists of narrow lanes, which are not well maintained.”
On the question of if Congress or BSP pose any challenge of division of votes, Armaan said, “People here are smart and they don’t want to waste their vote, people have understood that the contest is between two parties this time. The supporters of the other party will be sticking with them while all the remaining will be voting for Samajwadi Party.”
BJP candidate Anjani Kumar Srivastava, who cited a busy campaigning schedule, could not be reached.
Meanwhile, the Aam Aadmi Party candidate Rajiv Bakshi claimed that he has been getting massive support from all corners of the society as people are fed up with politics of religion and caste.
Speaking to News18, Rajiv Bakshi said, “We are going among the people with the basic issues of development. People today want jobs and amenities instead of Mandir or Masjid. We are getting extensive support as we are talking about people’s issues. Our party will ensure free 300 units of electricity, 20,000 litre of free water, employment opportunities for the youth and monthly allowance for women to make them independent. Tomorrow AAP Chief Convener and Delhi CM Arvind Kejirwal Ji is coming to Lucknow where he will be addressing people and workers from all the constituencies of Lucknow.”
All the nine assembly constituencies of Lucknow will go for voting in the fourth phase on February 23. Preparations have been completed for the polling on this seat with 437 polling booths being made at 104 polling centres. There are a total of 4,33,668 registered voters on this seat, out of which 2,33,451 are males while 2,00,179 females. There are also 38 third gender voters along with 2,870 first time voters registered on this seat.
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