Lok Sabha 2019 constituency: Battle for UP’s Gorakhpur will be most watched

Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh has voted for the BJP for decades before a united opposition delivered a stunning defeat in the assembly by-election held in 2017.

The Mahants of Gorakhnath Mutt have dominated politics in the Gorakhpur region since the late 1980s. Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath won the Gorakhpur seat five times in a row in 1998, 1999, 2004, 2009 and 2014. Earlier, the seat was represented by his guru Mahant Avaidyanath for three terms: 1989, 1991 and 1996.

Avaidyanath also won a by-poll held in 1970 after the death of his guru Mahant Digvijay Nath, who won the seat in the 1967 Lok Sabha election.

The traditional bastion of Adityanath has five assembly constituencies of Caimpiyarganj, Pipraich, Gorakhpur Urban, Gorakhpur Rural and Sahajanwa.

With a population of about 3.5 lakh, the Nishad (boatmen) community has a significant presence in the Gorakhpur region and comprises 14% of the state’s population. Dalit and Muslim communities also form a sizeable population in the constituency.

Uttar Pradesh, which sends the maximum number of members to Parliament at 80, will go to polls in all the seven phases of the Lok Sabha election 2019. Votes will be counted on May 23.

READ: All about Lok Sabha elections 2019

Here are a few details about the Gorakhpur Lok Sabha seat:

State: Uttar Pradesh

Name of the Lok Sabha constituency: Gorakhpur

Polling date: May 19

2019 candidates: Rambuhal Nishad (SP), Ravi Kishan (BJP), Madhusudan Tiwari (Congress)

Sitting MP, party: Praveen Kumar Nishad, SP

Winning margin in 2018 by-poll: 21,881

Runner up name, party: Upendra Dutt Shukla, BJP

Number of voters in 2014: 1,040,199

Percentage of votes polled in 2014: 54.62%

Number of women voters in 2014: 849,022

Number of polling booths in 2014: 1,948