Lakhanpal emerged victorious in this constituency after defeating Masood in 2014 general election. BSP has fielded Majid Ali, a less-known face, by dropping incumbent MP Haji Fazlur Rehman.
Saharanpur is again witnessing a triangular contest among three candidates—Bharatiya Janata Party’s Raghav Lakhanpal, Congress’ Imran Masood and Bahujan Samaj Party’s Majid Ali for the upcoming Lok Sabha Elections.
Lakhanpal emerged victorious in this constituency after defeating Masood in the 2014 general election.
BSP has fielded Majid Ali, a less-known face, by dropping incumbent MP Haji Fazlur Rehman.
Renowned for its wood carving work, Saharanpur has mostly an agrarian population. It also retains a significant geographical location bordering three states: Haryana, Uttarakhand, and Himachal Pradesh. Despite this, it still lacks development compared to its bordering towns of Muzaffarnagar and Shamli in Uttar Pradesh.
A local resident, Adil Aslam, told The Sunday Guardian, “If we compare Saharanpur with the border states of Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, or Uttarakhand, one can say that it lacks development work.” Although it is culturally important as it has a famous Shakumbari Devi temple visited by many devotees every year, during monsoon season, due to flash floods, people lose their lives every year.
Saharanpur, a constituency dominated by the Muslim community, encompasses five assembly seats–Saharanpur, Saharanpur Rural, Deoband, Rampur Maniharan, and Behat.
In this constituency, the combined vote share of Muslims and Dalits amounts to nearly 64 percent, with Muslims comprising 42 percent.
With the fielding of Muslim candidates from both Congress and BSP, a division of votes seems to favor the BJP candidate, while the BSP’s core voter Jatav community’s vote split between the BJP and BSP seems to hurt Congress.
This division of votes has made this constituency a triangular contest. While Lakhanpal seems confident of winning this time due to the governance model of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. However, Imran Masood is trying hard to stop the division of Muslim voters from the BSP. Masood came to the limelight after his controversial comment of ‘Boti Boti’ on PM Modi in 2014, but this time he is talking of secularism as he visited and worshipped at the renowned Siddh Peeth Tripur Bala Sundari Devi temple, which received criticism from Bajrang Dal activists stating the denial of entry for non-Hindus to temples.
The BJP is strategically working to bring Saharanpur to its fold as PM Modi visited Saharanpur and targeted the I.N.D.I.A for defaming ‘Shakti’. In his address, PM Modi said, “Saharanpur is the land of Maa Shakti. We are a nation that has always revered the power of Shakti. However, it is unfortunate for our country that the I.N.D.I.A is challenging this, claiming their struggle is against Shakti. The fate of those who attempted to undermine Shakti is well documented in history and ancient scriptures.” He also applauded the wooden craft hub in Saharanpur. The rally saw the participation of Muslim women too, which may imbalance the Muslim-Dalit equation of the BSP and Congress.
On one hand, the BJP held rallies of its star campaigners, while on the other hand, Imran Masood’s campaign seems slow, as he only asked for a roadshow of Priyanka Gandhi on April 17, the last day of the campaign. Masood has made a complete circle of jumping from one party to another as ahead of the 2022 assembly elections he switched to the SP and subsequently to the BSP. Now, ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, he returned back to the Congress. Masood has also gained support from incumbent BSP MP Haji Rehman, who is dropped by the BSP this time.
Another local resident and law student, Mohamad Akib, told The Sunday Guardian, “The Congress manifesto seems directional for youths, while the BJP lacks on this aspect.” Saharanpur saw BJP and BSP MPs in the last ten years, but the condition of Saharanpur has not improved. So my vote will go to that candidate who addresses local issues in Saharanpur.