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Muslim vote key in final phase in U.P.

Atiq Khan

SP, BSP and Congress vying with one another to woo the minority community

Azam Khan’s rebellion a setback to Mulayam
All eyes on Rampur constituency

LUCKNOW: The Muslim vote is set to play a crucial role in the fifth and final round of polling on Wednesday in 14 Lok Sabha constituencies in Uttar Pradesh. These constituencies are located mainly in the Rohilkhand region where Muslim population is concentrated.

So vital is the support of the Muslims in deciding the fate of the candidates in at least 10 of the 14 constituencies that the ruling Bahujan Samaj Party, the Samajwadi Party and the Congress have focussed on garnering the Muslim votes during campaigning for the fifth round.

In the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, the SP, riding on the support of the minority community, had won six of these 14 seats. The going appears to be tough for Mulayam Singh’s party in this election as the Congress and the BSP appeared to have made deep inroads into the once-invincible vote bank of the SP in the region.

In this context, the rebellion of the SP’s most credible Muslim face, Mohammad Azam Khan, has been the biggest setback to the former Chief Minister. Mr. Khan’s running feud with the SP nominee in Rampur, Jayaprada, and the party general secretary, Amar Singh, threatened to mar the party’s chances in the constituency.

The political drama in Rampur continued, even on the eve of the final round of the battle. At a press conference on Tuesday, Mr. Khan threatened to initiate legal proceedings against Ms. Jayaprada if she failed to prove her charge that he was instrumental in distributing objectionable CDs featuring her.

Sensing trouble in the Samajwadi camp, the Congress is trying to woo Muslim voters towards its candidate, Begum Noor Bano, a former MP from Rampur. The Congress had reportedly sent feelers to Mr. Khan. The Bharatiya Janata Party has also fielded a Muslim from Rampur, party vice-president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, who too is a former MP of the area.

In Budaun, Salim Iqbal Sherwani, who was denied the ticket by Mr. Mulayam Singh, is banking on the Muslim support to enable him to win the seat for the fifth successive time, this time as a Congress candidate. Mr. Singh has fielded his nephew, Dharmendra Yadav from Budaun, while D.P. Yadav is the BSP candidate. Mr. Sherwani was among the two Muslim MPs, who were dumped by the SP chief. The other being Shafiqur Rehman Barq, the MP from Moradabad. Mr. Barq joined the BSP and he is the party candidate from Sambhal.

Another former MP of SP, Shahid Siddiqui, is in the fray as a BSP candidate in another Muslim-dominated seat, Bijnore, which, till the 2004 Lok Sabha polls, was a reserved constituency when it was bagged by the Rashtriya Lok Dal.

In Moradabad — the district has the largest number of Muslims (17.36 lakh) in the State — the Congress had fielded the former Indian cricket captain, Mohammad Azharuddin, whereas in Saharanpur, the SP’s Rasheed Masood is determined to retain the seat which he won in 2004.

Pilibhit seat

Pilibhit was another constituency where the Muslim voters had an established presence. Here, Varun Gandhi of the BJP is pitted against V.M. Singh of the Congress and Ganga Charan Rajput of the BSP. Considering that the Muslim vote has invariably split between the SP, the Congress and the BSP, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati’s appeal to the Muslims to guard against division, at a rally in Pilibhit last week, assumed significance as she made a bid to win the seat for her party.

Whether the Kalyan Singh factor and his role in the demolition of the Babri Masjid will have any impact on the Muslim voting trend is open to question. The fact that the Muslims have exhibited a tendency to vote for their community candidates could emerge as a key factor in Wednesday’s polls.

Saharanpur, Bijnore, Nagina (reserved), Moradabad, Rampur, Sambhal, Amroha, Budaun, Aonla, Bareilly, Pilibhit, Shahjahanpur (reserved), Kheri and Dhaurara are the constituencies that will go to the polls.

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