In the on-going Assembly polls, contest within the family members like mother-son, daughter-mother, leader’s first and second wife has been witnessed making the political battle more interesting.
The biggest and most interestingly fight is in Amethi in Uttar Pradesh where Member of Parliament (MP) Sanjay Singh’s wife Ameeta Singh is contesting election on Congress symbol with leader’s estrange wife Garima Singh, from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Interestingly, Garima and her son already had legal battle over ancestral property with Sanjay Singh but now the battle has also started ‘politically’ and it is known whom the voters are going to support this time around.
Similarly, Apna Dal leader and Minister Anu Priya Patel is politically battling with her mother Krishna Patel and sister Pallavi Patel.
Both had split Apna Dal and now candidates of both the parties are fighting against each other with Anupriya and Krishna are locking horns to ensure victory of their candidates.
In Shamli, BJP MP Hukum Singh’s daughter Mriganka Singh is making her debut but she had to face opposition from her cousin Anil Chowdhary, contesting on the Rastriya lok Dal (RlD) ticket.
It may be mentioned that after Hukum Singh became MP, the BJP gave ticket to Anil Chowdhary but he lost in a close contest. This time, to fulfill dream of his daughter, Hukum Singh managed BJP ticket for her forcing Anil to get ticket from the RlD.
Raja Kunwar Anand Singh, of Mankapur who is in the Samajwadi Party (SP) and also won the last Assembly elections, would campaign in favour of SP candidate Baburam while his son Kirtiwardhan Singh, who is BJP MP, will campaign from the opposite side where Ramapati Shashtri is fighting on BJP ticket and both father-son doing their best to see their candidates win.
Similarly in Rampur, Nawab Kazim Ali, who won Swar Assembly seat on Congress ticket thrice, is contesting this time from same seat on Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) ticket.
Now, Kazim’s mother Nur Bano, is senior Congress leader and she will campaign against her son just to ensure victory of her party candidate after defeating her own son.
SP MlA from Jasrana Ramveer Singh Yadav, who is sitting MlA, failed to get ticket this time, so he jumped in the field as independent. He is already four-time MlA from the same seat. His son Amol Yadav, who is district president of the SP, had also filed the ticket from the same seat and now both are contesting against each other.
In Handia seat of Allahabad, both wife and son of former State Cabinet Minister Rakesh Dhar Tripathi - Pramila Devi and Prabhat - are in the fray. Tripathi, who was the Minister for Higher Education in
the Mayawati Government (2007-12) and represented the Assembly segment, came out on bail last month after spending a few months in jail in a disproportionate assets case.
He was expelled from the BSP shortly after the 2014 lok Sabha polls which he had unsuccessfully contested as the party’s candidate from Bhadohi. His wife has been fielded by Apna Dal.
His son, who has nursed political ambitions since the time Tripathi was a Minister, filed his papers on the last day for nominations and said, “I have been ignored by all parties though I have been working among the people while my mother has been given a ticket despite having no experience of public work.”