Union minister Ajay Mishra Teni faces tough contest in Kheri, SP has a lead
The Samajwadi Party had repeatedly attacked Union minister Ajay Mishra Teni for the 2021 Lakhimpur Kheri violence in which his son is accused.
LUCKNOW: Union minister of state for home Ajay Mishra Teni, who was running for a third term in the Lok Sabha from Kheri parliamentary seat and hoping to register a hattrick, is locked in a tight fight with the Samajwadi Party (SP) candidate Utkarsh Verma Madhur.
By 12:30pm, Ajay Mishra who won the seat in 2014 and 2019, was trailing with 3,175 votes, with 2,44,067 votes (44.79%) as compared to 2,54,938 votes (45.32%) polled by 38-year-old Utkarsh Madhur.
The Congress, which once considered the Kheri parliamentary seat its stronghold, winning nine times from here, didn’t field a candidate owing to its alliance with the Samajwadi Party.
The Lok Sabha election, the first since the October 3, 2021 Lakhimpur Kheri violence when a vehicle allegedly belonging to union minister mowed down four farmers while they had gathered to protest against the now-repealed farm laws. Ajay’s son, Ashish, is the main accused in the case.
The BJP backed the junior home minister despite resentment against the minister over the case. Ashish is currently out on bail.
The 2021 incident was a recurring theme in the SP’s campaign against Teni.
In his Kheri rally in May, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav asked the people to “give a reply to SUV through your votes, oust Ajay Mishra Teni”.
Union home minister Amit Shah, who had campaigned for his deputy in the home ministry, had indicated a promotion for Ajay Mishra in the next cabinet when the BJP comes to power. “Wherever I go (for campaigning), in every place, people demand that their MP should be made a minister. But you, the people of Kheri, we have already given you a minister. Ensure the victory of Ajay Mishra and I assure you that I will make him a big man.”
The Opposition and some farmers’ bodies had demanded Teni’s removal as the convoy that ran over the farmers was allegedly associated with him.
To be sure, there was no electoral fallout of the October 2021 incident on the 2022 Uttar Pradesh assembly polls and 2023 civic elections. In the 2022 UP assembly polls, the BJP won all five assembly segments in the Kheri parliamentary constituency.
