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Lucknow, 11 May (HS). Kanpur Dehat, adjacent to the industrial city Kanpur of Uttar Pradesh, is known as Akbarpur Lok Sabha seat. During the reign of Mughal Emperor Akbar, its name was changed from Gudikheda to 'Akbarpur' due to Risaldar Kunwar Singh, who was a Kshatriya and who probably built this new town. Situated in the Doab between Ganga and Yamuna, this Lok Sabha constituency is also a turning point connecting Kanpur-Jhansi and Kanpur-Etawah. A large part of the industrial area falls in this Lok Sabha constituency. Voting is to be held in Akbarpur on May 13 under the fourth phase.
History of Akbarpur Lok Sabha seat
Before Akbarpur Lok Sabha constituency, this area was known as Bilhaur Lok Sabha constituency. This included most of the Kanpur countryside. After delimitation in 2009, part of Bilhaur was lost from it. Some part of it was added to Misrikh and some to Etawah Lok Sabha constituency. Here, four assembly constituencies of Kanpur district and one Kanpur Dehat assembly constituency were included to form Akbarpur Lok Sabha constituency. It is also known as Akbarpur Raniya Lok Sabha constituency.
After the coming into existence of Akbarpur Lok Sabha seat, Rajaram Pal, the Congress candidate, became the first MP by winning from this seat. In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, due to the Modi wave across the country, this seat went to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and in 2014 and 2019, BJP candidate Devendra Singh alias Bhole Singh was elected MP from here for two consecutive terms. Later this area became the stronghold of BJP. SP's account has not yet been opened on this seat. Kanpur Dehat is also special because it is the hometown of Ramnath Kovind, the 14th President of the country.
Situation of last two elections
In the Lok Sabha elections 2019, BJP's Devendra Singh alias Bhole Singh defeated BSP's Nisha Sachan by 2 lakh 75 thousand 142 votes. Devendra Singh Bhole got 581,282 (56.62%) votes. The BSP candidate had secured 306,140 (29.82%) votes. Whereas Rajaram Pal of Congress got 108,341 (10.55%) votes. The security deposit of the Congress candidate was confiscated.
Talking about 2014 elections, in this election also BJP candidate Devendra Singh alias Bhole Singh registered a big victory by a margin of 2 lakh 78 thousand 997 votes. Devendra Singh alias Bhole Singh had defeated BSP candidate Anil Shukla Warsi. SP's Lal Singh Tomar and Congress's Rajaram Pal had their deposits forfeited in this election.
Which party nominated whom?
BJP has expressed confidence in sitting MP Devendra Singh alias Bhole Singh for the third time. Rajaram Pal from SP and Rajesh Kumar Dwivedi from BSP are in the fray.
Caste equation of Akbarpur seat
There are about 17.50 lakh voters in Akbarpur Lok Sabha. The Scheduled Caste population in this seat is 23.22 percent. The role of OBC, minority and SC voters is said to be important in this Lok Sabha seat and these voters play an important role in the victory or defeat of the candidate and the party in the Lok Sabha elections, hence most of the parties focus their attention on OBC and SC voters. Apart from this, Rajput and Brahmin voters play a very decisive role in this seat.
status of assembly seats
There are five assembly seats under Akbarpur parliamentary seat, namely Raniya, Bithoor, Kalyanpur, Maharajpur and Ghatampur (SC). In Akbarpur Lok Sabha seat, except Raniya assembly, all other seats come from Kanpur city. Ghatampur seat is held by NDA ally Apna Dal Sonelal. BJP is in control of the remaining seats.
Mathematics of victory and challenges
80 percent of this seat falls in rural areas. From the electoral point of view, there is a big difference between urban and rural areas on the basis of caste. There is a tussle between Muslims and upper caste voters in the city and backward and Dalit class voters in the rural areas. In such a situation, political parties have to work with their dual strategy. Here a direct contest is being seen between BJP and SP. Former MP Rajaram Pal had left Congress and joined SP. SP has fielded him. This time there is an alliance of SP-Congress, due to which there is no danger of minority votes, especially Muslim votes, getting scattered. This time there is discussion about the schemes of the Central Government and Article 370 and construction of Ram Temple. Which will benefit BJP.
According to political analyst Sushil Shukla, the impact of the development work of the BJP's double engine government is visible in the area. BJP faces a strong challenge from India Alliance. If BSP makes a dent in the minority voters then SP's mathematics will be disturbed.