LS polls: Swami Prasad Maurya to contest from Kushinagar

GORAKHPUR: Former UP minister and Rashtriya Shoshit Samaaj Party president Swami Prasad Maurya announced on Sunday that he will contest the Lok Sabha elections from Kushinagar.

Maurya, who has served as a three-time MLA from the Padrauna, contested the Lok Sabha election from Kushinagar in 2009 but was defeated by then Congress candidate RPN Singh by a margin of over 20 thousand votes.

In a post on X in Hindi, Maurya said that since the formation of the Rashtriya Shoshit Samaj Party, he has been working to strengthen the INDIA bloc and secure victories. “We also appealed to the people of the country to save the Constitution, democracy and get rid of the BJP,” he said.

Soon after announcing his decision on social media on Sunday morning, Maurya visited the residence of the late Mukhtar Ansari to meet Afzal Ansari and Umar Ansari.

Maurya claimed that he had held talks with INDIA bloc partners from Uttar Pradesh regarding seat- sharing but received no response. He also announced that SN Chauhan would be his party’s candidate from the Deoria Lok Sabha seat. Both the Kushinagar and Deoria Lok Sabha seats are scheduled to vote in the seventh and final phase of the general elections on June 1.

The announcement of Swami Prasad Maurya as a candidate holds significance following the nomination of Vijay Dubey from the BJP for a third term, especially as the Samajwadi Party and BSP have yet to finalise their candidates for this seat.

(With inputs from PTI)