As Lok Sabha elections shift to Awadh region, “Pasi factor” needs to be watched

The Pasi factor will be the real “game-changer” in the Awadh region that mostly comprises Lucknow, Barabanki, Ayodhya, Sitapur, Lakhimpur Kheri, Hardoi, Unnao, Rae Bareli and Pratapgarh.

Polling in these constituencies will take place in the fourth and fifth phases of the Lok Sabha election on May 13 and 20. Pasis constitute about 50% of the total Dalit population in this region.

“As the election shifts to the Awadh region from western Uttar Pradesh, the caste factor comes into play and the focus shifts to the Pasis, the second largest Dalit community in the state (after Jatavs),” says Prashant Trivedi, associate professor, Giri Institute of Development Studies, Lucknow.

With Mohanlalganj (reserved) constituency being a microcosm of the Awadh region, all winners here 1971 onwards were Pasis.

Even in recent times, Pasis have been traditional voters of the BJP in Mohanlalganj in all elections after 2009, gradually shifting political loyalties from the BSP which launched caste mobilisation of non-Jatav voters in the 1990s in this constituency.

“In Lucknow district alone, out of the 21% Dalit population, half of it comprises Pasis. In the entire Awadh region, Pasis play a major role,” Trivedi says.

The Mohanlalganj Lok Sabha constituency, currently represented by Union minister of state for housing and urban affairs Kaushal Kishore, will vote in the fifth phase on May 20.

As two-time sitting BJP MP Kaushal Kishore’s faces INDIA bloc candidate RK Chaudhary of the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party’s Rajesh Kumar alias Manoj Pradhan as his main challengers, the political temperature has risen here amid the heat and dust in this constituency where 25% of the voters are Pasis,

“The Pasi community has been the BSP’s vote bank. But from 2014 onwards they shifted to the BJP. However, in this election the Pasi community will vote for the Samajwadi Party also along with the BJP as the Bahujan Samaj Party is mostly out of the contest,” he adds.

At Ground Zero, the voices in Shivpuri Gram Sabha in Bakshi Ka Talab town area, 30 kilometres from Lucknow’s city centre in Mohanlalganj, reflect the concerns of the community.

The poll talk revolves around the so-called moves for a rumoured change in the Constitution if the BJP is voted to power, besides welfare schemes of the Modi government.

Santosh Kumar, a prominent Pasi leader and former pradhan of Shivpuri gram sabha, is sitting along with his supporters at his shop at Singh Market on Sitapur Road, around six kilometres from his village. “Samvidhan nahi badalne denge (we will not allow any change in the Constitution),” Santosh says when asked about the political discussions in Shivpuri and the adjoining areas. “400 par matlab samvidhan badal denge,” Kumar says, referring to the BJP’s slogan “Ab ki bar 400 par”.

Sitting next to Kumar, Shyam Dhar of Sonva gram sabha in Bakshi Ka Talab town area says, “The uproar over Samvidhan change is a political gimmick of the Opposition. No one is going to change the Constitution. Any debate on Constitution change is to counter BJP’s slogan “ab ki bar 400 par.”

A heated exchange between Santosh Kumar and Shyam Dhar follows on the issue. “The Pasi community will vote for change this time,” Santosh Kumar says.

The scenario changes in Paharpur, another gram panchayat in Bakshi Ka Talab.

“The candidate does not matter. We will vote in PM Modi’s name,” says gram pradhan Santosh Kumar, who shares the same name as the former gram pradhan of Shivpuri.

In a discussion between a group of advocates at Bakshi Ka Talab tehsil, there seems to be some resentment.

“But what will we gain by voting for the opposition (INDIA bloc)? They are not coming to power. So, it is better to vote for the candidate whose probability of winning is more,” says a lawyer Ramveer Chaudhary.

However, Rajeev Shukla of Paharpur village asserts that people will vote on development work of PM Modi. For supporters of the BJP, candidates don’t matter any more, he says.

At Nauwa Khera village, the Pasi and the Yadav communities are almost equal in number.

In this village with a population of around 4000, voters are divided on caste lines with the Yadav community backing RK Chaudhary for whom the challenge is formidable as Kaushal Kishore had turned Mohanlalganj into an impregnable fortress for the Bharatiya Janata Party, registering two consecutive wins in the last two Lok Sabha polls.

In 2019, Kaushal Kishore overcome the challenge posed by the much talked about SP-BSP alliance. He won the election by a considerable margin of 90,204 votes, securing 6,29,999 (49.58%) of the total votes polled. CL Verma, the SP-BSP alliance candidate, secured 42.48% votes (5,39,795 votes).

Chaudhary, who is also a prominent Pasi leader, stood third in 2019 election as the Congress candidate. He was in second position in 2014 as the BSP nominee.

In 2024, the scenario has changed with the Samajwadi Party and the Congress being part of the INDIA bloc. Under the seat-sharing arrangement, the Mohanlalganj constituency went to the Samajwadi Party, which fielded Chaudhary.

It was Chaudhary who had succeeded in bringing Pasis into the BSP fold when he won the 1996 assembly election from Mohanlalganj as the BSP candidate. However, Chaudhary’s relationship with the BSP soured after Kashiram handed over the party’s control to Mayawati.

Chaudhary managed to win the 2002 and 2007 assembly polls from Mohanlalganj as an Independent and Rashtriya Swabhiman Party candidate, the party which he had founded to counter the BSP.