From sleepy to sizzling: Contest spices up in Budaun
The Samajwadi Party has secured victory in the Budaun seat six times consecutively from 1996 to 2014. However, the seat was won by BJP candidates only twice, in 1991 by Chinmayanand and in 2019 by Sanghmitra Maurya.
BUDAUN: Once considered a ‘sleepy’ town in Rohilkhand, Budaun has transformed into a bustling city, with roads lined with stores featuring multinational brands of garments, shoes, beauty products, and more.
Located approximately 50 kilometres from Bareilly, Budaun is currently the centre of a fierce electoral battle between Bhartiya Janata Party’s Durvijay Singh Shakya and Samajwadi Party’s Aditya Yadav.
Budaun has been a stronghold of the Samajwadi Party since 1996, with the party winning the seat six times in a row from 1996 to 2014. The BJP managed to win the Budaun Lok Sabha seat only twice, with Chinmayanand in 1991 and Sanghmitra in 2019, riding on the Modi wave.
The credit for major development projects in Budaun is attributed to Dharmendra Yadav of the Samajwadi Party, who served consecutive terms in 2009 and 2014. However, in 2019, Sanghmitra Maurya of the BJP broke the Samajwadi Party’s stronghold by defeating Yadav by a margin of 18,454 votes.
Shakya, hailing from Dataganj nagar palika in Budaun, is also relying on the charisma of Modi and the anti-mafia image of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. The Shakya community holds significant influence in the Bilsi assembly constituency within the Budaun Lok Sabha region.
Samajwadi Party’s Aditya Yadav, who replaced former MP Dharmendra Yadav, is highlighting the development projects undertaken in Budaun. Initially, Aditya’s father and national general secretary of the SP, Shivpal Yadav, was slated to contest from Budaun after Dharmendra Yadav’s candidacy shifted to Azamgarh against Dinesh Lal Yadav ‘Nirahua’. However, after Shivpal’s refusal to contest, it paved the way for Aditya.
Aditya enjoys strong backing from the Yadav community and Muslims, both significant demographics in this Parliamentary constituency. The Gunnar and Sahaswan assembly constituencies of Budaun have substantial Yadav populations. However, the outcome in Budaun city and the Bisauli assembly constituencies play a decisive role in anyone’s victory in this battle.
Chairman of the Budaun Nagar Panchayat, Abid Raza, who won as an independent candidate, has extended support to the Samajwadi Party candidate, while Shivpal Yadav is spearheading the campaign for his son. Aditya is also being aided by his father-in-law, Sanjay Singh.
While Congress candidate Saleem Iqbal Shervani, who finished third with 51,947 votes in the previous elections, has also extended support to Aditya Yadav. Sherwani won the Budaun seat for the first time in 1984 as a Congress candidate and subsequently secured victory four times in a row from 1996 to 2004 as a Samajwadi Party candidate.
“No one knows Durvijay Singh Shakya in Budaun. If you ask anyone in the city about the BJP candidate, they won’t be able to tell you much about him, but people still vote for the BJP in the name of Modi and Yogi,” said Amit Parmar, a local of Budaun.
Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP) candidate Muslim Khan is not likely to make it a triangular fight. “His (Muslim Khan’s) absence from electioneering is clearly visible, and we all know the reason behind it,” said CK Singh Chauhan, a local resident of Budaun.
Info
PAST RESULTS
2019
Sanghmitra Maurya -BJP 511352
Dharmendra Yadav - SP 492898
Saleem Iqbal Shervani INC 51947
2014
Dharmendra Yadav SP 498378
Vagish Pathak BJP 332031
Akmal Khan BSP 156973
2009
Dharmendra Yadav SP 233744
Dharam Yadav BSP 201202
Saleem Iqbal Sherwani INC 193834
