Bhim Army Chief Chandra Shekhar Aazad has established a comfortable lead of over one lakh votes in Uttar Pradesh's Nagina Lok Sabha constituency.
President of the Azad Samaj Party, he was up against Om Kumar of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Manoj Kumar of the Samajwadi Party (SP) and Surendra Pal Singh of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).
BSP’s Girish Chandra had won Nagina in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, a reserved constituency which includes over 3.5 lakh Dalit voters.
Chandra Shekhar's Victory and The BSP
As per the Election Commission of India (ECI), Chandra Shekhar has polled a total of 50.59 percent in the constituency, as compared to BJP's Om Kumar who has polled 35.9 percent votes, SP's Manoj Kumar with 10.95 percent votes, and BSP's Surendra Pal with 1.36 percent votes.
Interestingly, the BSP candidate's vote share in the constituency in the 2019 elections was 56.8 percent. The SP and BSP were in alliance then. BJP's vote share in the 2019 election was 39.78 percent, which has seen only a marginal drop.
So clearly, the Bhim Army Chief has gained majority of the SP and BSP vote in the constituency which has 40 percent Muslim and 22 percent Scheduled Caste (SC) population.
His victory at a time when Mayawati's BSP is expected to draw a blank in Uttar Pradesh also opens up the door for an alternate Dalit leadership in the state.
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