2024 Lok Sabha polls: It’s BJP’s ‘son of the soil’ vs SP’s ‘outsider’ in Budaun

Known as the land of “pirs” (spiritual leaders) and poets, Budaun has turned into a launch pad for the progeny of politicians over the years.

Be it the Lok Sabha or the assembly elections, the leaders of various political parties have selected this constituency in the Rohilkhand region of West Uttar Pradesh to ensure plain sailing for their children or other family members in political waters.

For instance, the 2009 Lok Sabha election witnessed the entry of Dharmendra Yadav, son of Abhay Ram Yadav, younger brother of Samajwadi Party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav, in the electoral arena. Mulayam denied the party ticket to sitting SP MP Saleem Shervani to make way for his nephew. Sherwani rose in rebellion, contested on the Congress ticket to challenge Dharmendra, but he was defeated convincingly. Dharmendra went on to retain the seat in the 2014 Lok Sabha election. He defeated BJP candidate Vagish Pathak even as the Modi wave swept Uttar Pradesh.

The scenario was no different in the 2019 Lok Sabha election as Sanghamitra Maurya, daughter of the then Uttar Pradesh minister Swami Prasad Maurya, entered the fray on the BJP ticket. Riding the Modi wave, Sanghmitra defeated Dharmendra Yadav, who was contesting as an SP- BSP alliance candidate to put Budaun in the BJP kitty after 28 years. Previously, Chinmayanand had won the seat on the BJP ticket in the 1991 Lok Sabha election.

In the 2022 Uttar Pradesh assembly election, former MP and Rashtriya Parivartan Dal (RPD) chief DP Yadav fielded his son Kunal Yadav from the Sahaswan seat (in Badaun) considered his pocket borough on the RPD ticket but Kunal was defeated by the Samajwadi Party’s Brajesh Yadav. In the 2024 Lok Sabha election, another political heir, Aditya Yadav, son of SP national general secretary Shivpal Yadav, is vying to make his debut from Budaun. Even as Shivpal Yadav is the official SP candidate from Budaun, he is lobbying vigorously for the ticket for his son. He called a party workers’ conference in Budaun to get a proposal passed for Aditya’s candidature. Even as the SP chief’s nod is awaited, Aditya is campaigning in the constituency.

Budaun is considered a Samajwadi Party stronghold as the party bagged the seat in six consecutive Lok Sabha elections in 1996, 1998, 1999, 2004, 2009 and 2014. The SP is working on the Muslim-Yadav formula to regain the seat. Muslims comprise 14% voters and Yadavs 18% in the constituency.

Polling in Budaun will be held in the third phase of the Lok Sabha election on May 7. When votes are counted on January 4, it will be known if another political heir enters the Lok Sabha from Budaun.

After Swami Prasad Maurya’s rebellion and his constant attacks on the saffron brigade, the BJP has denied the ticket to his daughter and sitting MP Sanghmitra Maury replacing her with Durvijay Singh Shakya who is president of the party in the Braj region. The BJP is depending on the support of non-Yadav OBCs, including 14% Maurya voters, 9% Lodh as well as upper castes Rajput (7%) and Brahmin (6%) to retain the seat.

To corner the Samajwadi Party, the BJP leaders are highlighting the fact that Shakya is a homegrown leader who rose from grassroots worker to the higher echelons of the organization whereas the Samajwadi Party has fielded an “outsider” as its candidate who will desert the constituency. The Bahujan Samaj Party that has been unable to win the Budaun Lok Sabha seat is yet to announce its candidate. The SP and the BJP have launched a campaign in the constituency while political equations are likely to change after the BSP fields its nominee. Well-known Urdu poet Shakeel Badayuni, who was a native of Budaun, had expressed his deep association with his homeland that is the birthplace of the Sufi saint Nizamuddin Auliya.