Ranipur seat which came into existence after the delimitation 2008 is poised to face a triangular contest with Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party and Bahujan Samaj Party in the fray.
This constituency having the maximum number of voters in the district-146688-, the contestants are pulling out all the stops to woo different sections of the voters like women, Dalits, minorities and industrial workers each of which is likely to play decisive role in tilting the scales in favour of each of the trio. Notably, nearly half of the population being women- 68203-they are likely make or mar the prospects of the contestants. Besides, the minority people whose number formidable too- 27000-are proving to be a major factor to seal the fate of the competing candidates. The Dalit community voters numbering close to 18000 Dalits are also being wooed vigorously by all the three parties in the fray.
The sitting MlA of BJP Adesh Chauhan is contesting for the second time. He is banking on different welfare schemes launched by the Centre as well as those he himself executed during his tenure as the lawmaker while slamming the Congress-led state government for putting roadblocks in the way of development by sitting on the funds required for the development works
Besides, BJP is staging street plays to strike a chord with the voters and, at the same time, is putting to maximum use the social media network to hammer home the ‘massive developmental initiatives’ taken by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, citing Ujjwala lPG Yojana, Jan Dhan Yojana and the stress being put on the transition to cashless economy.
Congress, on the other hand, is focusing on road-shows and door-to-door campaign to endear the voters to it. A road show staged the day the chief minister Harish Rawat filed his nomination from Haridwar Rural seat in SIIDCUl area was marked by the huge turnout of the industrial workers. The Congress candidate Ambrish Kumar is courting the voters principally through the traditional mode of electioneering.
BSP’s Prashant Rai, a formidable candidate for the seat with the sizable Dalit community people supposedly remaining tethered to the party, projected to champion their cause, is going full throttle to coalesce its traditional voters solidly behind while trying by all means to woo people from other sections of the electorate to race ahead of others. It has its eyes trained on what is known as Purvanchal vote bank whose number is also formidable.