SOM or Pradhan; the BJP or Samajwadi Party, For the nearly three lakh voters of Sardhana in western Uttar Pradesh, who vote on February 10, the choice is largely the same since 2012.
Where BJP’s Sangeet Singh Som has won both the times, the equations have changed now. The SP-RLD alliance has been forcing divided Muslims and Jats to rethink their options since the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots. And SP’s Atul Pradhan, voter after voter says, is not a bad replacement.
Sardhana, which falls in the Meerut district and borders Muzaffarnagar, has about 88,000 Muslims, 50,000 Scheduled Castes and Thakurs, who number about 25,000, apart from Jats and Gujjars. While Som is Thakur, Pradhan is Gujjar.
In these parts, Soma is also named ‘Hindu Heart Emperor’. He was booked for an alleged video of inflammatory speech in the 2013 riots, but was cleared. The two-time legislator, against whom seven criminal cases are pending, has been at the center of other controversies to rock the region, including the 2015 murder of Mohammad Akhlaq in Dadri, when he called for Akhlaq’s family to be imprisoned. did. He also demanded to change the name of Muzaffarnagar to Laxmi Nagar.
Of the 13 candidates in the fray, Som is the richest (with declared assets of around Rs 37 crore). Besides Pradhan, others include Syed Rehanuddin of Congress, Sanjeev Dhama of BSP and Sanjay of Congress. Aam Aadmi Party,
Pradhan has 38 cases against him, of which more than 24 have been registered in the last five years under the Adityanath regime. Most of the cases are bailable; There are a large number of violations section 144 Which prohibits large gatherings.
As an MLA, Som is very helpful to the people of the area, “he is our hero”, says Shoaib Ahmed, a 26-year-old owner of a grocery shop near the local bus stand. “But the party he belongs to always indulges in communal politics before every election. Atul Pradhan is also a very nice person and has been very active in this field for more than a decade.
Other voters support it, describing both Som and Pradhan as very accessible and accountable for their problems.
Taking a break from campaigning, wrapped in a saffron shawl in his two-storey house in Sardhana, Som says meeting people has made him realize “this is going to be the easiest election battle for me”. “My wife (Preeti) is also getting very encouraging response from Muslim women of Jamalpur village during door-to-door outreach programmes,” he says.
Pradhans have also been knocking on doors from village to village, and have been spending hours talking to people in gheras (common seating areas in villages). He tells voters, “I have been asking for your vote for ten years. Abki Baar To Jeeta Do (I have been asking for your vote since 10 years. Help me win this time at least).
Pradhan says he now expects the RLD’s Jat support, apart from a majority Muslim vote. “In the earlier elections, the BSP fielded Muslims, and took away votes. But this time the BSP has not fielded a Muslim. (The only candidate from the community has been fielded by the Congress, which does not have much chance.) I will also benefit from the anti-incumbency wave,” he says.
However, Som is confident that the anti-incumbency factor will not work in his case, arguing that “the people of my constituency vote for an effective local leader, not his party”. He says that BJP will again win in the state. “We will get more seats than in 2017 (when BJP won 312).”
Dentist Iqbal Siddiqui says that whoever wins from Sardhana will have a bumper victory. “Other candidates will also find it difficult to save their deposits. Voting will be collectively, either for the BJP or the alliance (SP-RLD).
Virendra Choudhary, a lawyer living on Binauli Road in Sardhana, accepts some sympathy for Pradhan. “He’s been literally begging for votes for so long, but music somo Also very popular. It will be a close fight.”
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