Mulayam Singh Yadav has never contested from this constituency still his name reigns supreme in Etawah where the Samajwadi Party is facing a tough fight from BJP and the BSP.
Etawah is considered as the stronghold of SP — as it happens to be the home turf of party president Mulayam Singh Yadav and his son Akhilesh Yadav who is Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. Etawah is also known as the karmasthal of SP’s ideologue Dr Ram Manohar lohia.
Though Mulayam Singh Yadav has not contested from his home turf even once, but his name is the biggest selling point here. Samajwadi Party’s prestige is at at stake because Yadav’s native village, Saifai, lies here.
Interestingly, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) are giving a tough fight to the SP for this seat. SP has fielded sitting MP Premdas Katheriya from this constituency, while the BSP has fielded businessman Ajay Pal Jatav as its candidate.
Ashok Dohre, a former Cabinet Minister during the BSP regime, is in the fray as the BJP candidate, while Ujiyare lal Dohre is the Aam Aadmi Party’s candidate from this seat. The Congress has put up Hansmukhi Bhakhvar.
Notably, Etawah parliamentary constituency was identified as reserved in 2009 polls after delimitation. This will be the second time, when any Dalit will be selected as an MP after providing ‘reserved’ status to the seat.
Earlier in 1991, BSP founder Kanshiram won from this parliamentary constituency. The delimitation process can put an affect on the poll equations. Portions of Aurraiya and Kanpur dehat were also merged into the Etawah parliamentary constituency after delimitation.
Meanwhile, the backwards will have a major say in electing the MP from this seat. Of the total 17 lakh voters, eight lakh voters are from the backward community. Over four lakh voters are of general category, while the Dalit populous stands around three lakh.SP currently occupies all the Assembly seats here.
Congress leader Motilal won from this seat for the first time in 1957. After him, socialist commander Arjun Singh Bhadauriya bagged victory in 1962. Shankar Tiwari of Congress represented Ewatah seat in 1971, while Arjun Singh was elected as the MP for the sceond time in 1977.
Ram Singh Shakya of Janata Party and Chaudhary Raghuraj Singh of the Congress bagged victory in 1980 and 1984 respectively .In 1989, Shakya repeated his victory, while BSP’s Kanshiram was elected in 1991.Shakya won from the SP’s ticket in 1996 polls, while 1998 elections remained good for Sukhda Mishra of the BJP. In 1999 and 2004 again Shakya of the SP was elected. In 2009, Prem Das Kathariya of SP won but even he has to face the heat this time despite being sitting in the party’s citadel.