Kairana Lok Sabha Seat: Voters here have never elected anyone as MP except Harpal.

The bugle of Lok Sabha elections has been sounded. This time also everyone’s attention has been on the Kairana Lok Sabha seat, which was once the birthplace of veteran BJP leader late Hukum Singh and was in the news across the country due to the issue of migration. Kairana Lok Sabha seat also has a mythological connection with the Mahabharata period. People here have been believing that during the Mahabharata period, Angraj Karna had settled it as Karnanagari. Kairana had been a refuge for patriots during the freedom struggle. Kairana provided a place to hide to the Marathas fighting against the British. Kairana is the area where the Kirana Gharana of music was started through Ustad Abdul Karim Khan. The gharana which gave a new color to Khayal singing in the country. Bhimsen Joshi was a disciple of this gharana, who gave voice to ‘Mile Sur Mera Tumhara To Sur Bane Hamara’. BJP had won from here in the 2019 general elections. A triangular contest is visible on this seat. This time, it is challenging for Iqra Hassan, the daughter of the Hassan family, to save her legacy. At the same time, it will not be easy for MP Pradeep Chaudhary to equal the record of Janata Dal’s Harpal Singh, who has been MP for two consecutive terms, and give victory to BJP. At the same time, saving credibility will be a challenge for BSP candidate Shripal Rana, who is contesting the elections for the first time.

If we look at the past elections, Gayur Ali Khan won the Lok Sabha elections in 1967 and Shafqat Ali won on Congress ticket in 1971. In the 1980 elections, Chaudhary Charan Singh’s wife Gayatri Devi was elected MP on Janata Party (S) ticket. Chaudhary Akhtar Hasan of Congress won in 1984. After 1989, Congress became marginalised. The Ram wave that arose in the nineties gave life to the BJP. In 1991 and 1996, BJP candidate Udayveer Singh was second, but in 1998, the party’s Virendra Verma won the seat. In the 1996 Lok Sabha elections, Akhtar Hasan’s son Munawwar Hasan gave SP its first victory. BJP won in 1998 but the next two elections went to RLD. Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) and BJP have won Kairana thrice each. SP and BSP win only once. BSP supremo Mayawati’s unfulfilled dream of winning Kairana in 2009 was fulfilled by Tavmsum Hasan, wife of former MP Munawwar Hasan. Mayawati, who contested the elections for the first time from Kairana Lok Sabha seat in 1984, had to be content with the third position in the Congress wave.

Politically, Kairana has been the stronghold of the Hasan family and the family of Babu Hukum Singh. The political atmosphere of Kairana changed in the Muzaffarnagar riots of 2013. There was a wave of communal polarization and in 2014, BJP’s Hukum Singh won the elections by 2.36 lakh votes, which is the biggest margin here so far. In the year 2015, the then MP of Kairana, Babu Hukum Singh, had raised the issue of migration of businessmen from Shamli due to criminalization, on which politics was very heated.

If we talk about Kairana Lok Sabha seat, the election picture here has become clear. Voting on this seat will be held on 19th April. Officials of all the parties are also busy in its preparation. The battle for 2024 has been unofficially decided. On one side there is SP-Congress alliance and on the other side BJP-RLD are together. BSP, which fought the last election together with SP, is on the path of going alone this time. SP has made Tabassum Hasan’s daughter Iqra Hasan its candidate. His brother Nahid Hasan is MLA from Kairana on SP ticket. Of the remaining four assembly seats in the Lok Sabha constituency, 2 are with BJP and 2 with RLD.

BJP has again fielded MP Pradeep Chaudhary on this seat. Iqra Hassan, daughter of the Hassan family, is contesting the elections from the SP-Congress alliance. Similarly, BSP has nominated retired BSF jawan Shripal Rana, resident of Bhavsi in Saharanpur district, as its candidate. Pradeep Chaudhary is once again facing the challenge of winning the seat this time too. Because only Janata Dal candidate Harpal Panwar had been MP from the seat twice in 1989 and 1991. After this, no candidate could win this seat twice consecutively.

If Pradeep Chaudhary wins the elections this time, he will equal Janata Dal’s record of becoming MP for two consecutive terms. Pradeep Chaudhary’s father Master Kanwarpal Singh has also been MLA from Nakur Assembly thrice. Pradeep Chaudhary himself has been MLA three times. In the last election, Pradeep Choudhary had defeated SP’s Tabassum Begum. Pradeep Chaudhary got 566961 votes while Tabassum got 474801 votes. Whereas Harendra Malik of Congress was at third position, who had secured 69355 votes. Iqra Hasan, daughter of the Hasan family, will face the challenge of saving her inheritance. After the death of BJP MP Hukum Singh, by-election was held in the year 2018, in which Tabassum Hasan, mother of Iqra from Hasan family, contested from RLD and won by getting 4,81,182 votes.

Earlier in 2009 also, Tabassum Hasan had contested elections from BSP and won by securing 2832590 votes. In 1996, Munawwar Hasan, husband of Tabassum Hasan, contested the elections from SP, he won by obtaining 184636 votes. Earlier in the year 1984, Munawwar Hasan’s father Chaudhary Akhtar Hasan had won the election by contesting from Congress. Iqra’s brother Nahid Hasan is currently the MLA from Kairana. On the other hand, BSP has nominated retired BSF jawan Shripal Rana, resident of Bhavsi in Saharanpur district, as its candidate for the Lok Sabha seat. Shripal Rana had joined BSP only six months ago. Saving the credibility of BSP will be a challenge for Shripal Rana. Now it remains to be seen whether Pradeep Choudhary is successful in making lotus bloom again on this seat or whether BSP or SP reverses the election results. This will become clear only after counting of votes.

This time BSP has played the Thakur-Dalit card by fielding Shripal Rana from Kairana Lok Sabha seat. In this situation, if BSP gets the votes of Dalits, Muslims and other sections along with Thakur, then the game of BJP and SP may also get spoiled. Candidates from other independents and parties can also spoil the game of BJP and SP. Kairana Lok Sabha seat consists of five assembly constituencies namely Shamli, Kairana, Thanabhawan, Nakud and Gangoh. The number of voters on this seat is 17 lakh 19 thousand 11 votes. Kairana Lok Sabha seat is a big stronghold of Muslim votes. Of the approximately 17 lakh voters here, maximum six lakh are Muslims. According to an estimate, there are 1.50 lakh Jats, 2.50 lakh Dalits, 1.30 lakh Gurjars, 1.35 lakh Saini, 1.25 lakh Kashyap, 50 thousand Thakur and more than 60 thousand Vaishya votes.