The Samajwadi Party has fielded the Imam of the Jama Masjid at Parliament Street in New Delhi as its candidate for the Rampur Lok Sabha seat, seeking to appeal to the substantial minority population in 18 of west Uttar Padesh’s 26 parliamentary constituencies.
Maulana Mohibullah Nadvi hails from Razanagar village of Rampur. Most Muslim MPs offer namaz at the mosque Nadvi is associated with in New Delhi.
Of the 16 seats where elections will be held in the first two phases on April 19 and 26, there are 13 seats where Muslims have vote shares between 28 and 51 per cent.
Sources in the SP said that earlier, jailed general secretary Azam Khan had suggested that party president Akhilesh Yadav contest from Rampur. But Akhilesh was quoted as telling his party workers in Lucknow that he would not contest the parliamentary elections.
Nadvi told reporters after filing his nomination papers on Wednesday: “I am here
on the direction of the SP chief to participate in a battle against those who are trying to distort the Constitution of our country.”
Mohammad Asim Raza of the SP has also filed his nomination from Rampur. Raza had contested as the SP nominee from there in the 2022 byelection but lost to the BJP’s
Ghanshyam Singh Lodhi by about 40,000 votes. Lodhi is seeking reelection from Rampur.
Rampur has a 51 per cent Muslim population. In the adjoining Moradabad seat, where the minority population is about 46 per cent, the SP has fielded Ruchi Veera against Sarvesh Kumar Singh of the BJP. Akhilesh dropped S.T. Hasan, his party’s sitting MP from Moradabad, on Wednesday and nominated Veera. Hasan had won by a margin of over 90,000 votes the last time.
“The party had asked me on Tuesday to file my nomination papers, but one more candidate filed her nomination on the SP’s symbol on Wednesday. I have to follow the instructions of the party leader,” Hasan told reporters.
Veera had won the Assembly byelection from Bijnor in 2014 as an SP candidate. Akhilesh had removed him from the party in 2015 after coming to know about her proximity with the Bahujan Samaj Party. She was suspended from the BSP in 2023.
A senior SP leader said: “During their meeting in Sitapur prison three days ago, Azam had suggested that Akhilesh contest from Rampur and give the ticket to Ruchi Veera from Moradabad. However, Akhilesh decided to field Nadvi from Rampur and Veera from Moradabad.”
“Our party leader Shivpal Yadav will meet Azam in jail in a day or two to explain the situation,” he added.
Rajendra Chaudhary, an SP spokesperson, said: “Such confusion is normal before the elections. A party can give the ticket to only one candidate from a constituency and it is obvious that there are many who would like to contest. It is a sign of the popularity of a party.”