Azamgarh Lok Sabha Seat 2024: Akhilesh Yadav Faces Tough Battle To Win Back Bastion That Gave SP Parliament Entry

Azamgarh Lok Sabha Election 2024: The upcoming polls in Azamgarh will be crucial for Akhilesh Yadav's SP as the party fights to win back its bastion that gave it the right to enter Parliament in 1996.

Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party lost the Azamgarh Lok Sabha seat to BJP's Dinesh Lal Yadav ‘Nirahua’ in the 2022 bypoll. ( Image Source :PTI/Facebook@nirahuaofficial )

The Azamgarh Lok Sabha constituency is among the 80 Lok Sabha constituencies that will be up for grabs in a few months. It is part of the Azamgarh district. The Azamgarh Lok Sabha seat was won by Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav in 2019. Before him, his father and SP founder Mulayam Singh Yadav won the seat from BJP's Ramakant Yadav in 2014. The seat was won back by the BJP during the 2022 byelections.

SP's Foray Into Lok Sabha From Azamgarh

The Azamgarh Lok Sabha constituency has been a bastion of the Samajwadi Party. The presence of several caste groups, including upper castes, OBCs, Dalits, and minorities, has influenced the political dynamics of Azamgarh. The Samajwadi Party's dominance in this constituency has been a key factor in Uttar Pradesh's political landscape, reflecting the party's ability to mobilize support from various social groups.

The Azamgarh seat was among the first 18 seats that the Samajwadi Party won in its first Lok Sabha election in 1996. Ramakant Yadav, who was a Samajwadi Party candidate then, secured a victory with 27.77% of the votes, marking the party's first win in this constituency. It was wrested from Ramakant Yadav by BSP's Akbar Ahmad in 1998.

However, the following year, Ramakant Yadav won the constituency and then again in 2004 contesting on an SP ticket. But in 2008, Akbare Ahmad won back the seat. Ramakant Yadav then moved to the BJP right before the 2009 elections and secured the constituency, demonstrating the constituency's political diversity. Ramakant Yadav secured an assembly seat for his son Arun Kumar Yadav, who won the Phoolpur Pawai seat in 2017 on a BJP ticket.

Ramakant Yadav, however, moved back to the SP in 2022.

The Yadavs In Azamgarh

Samajwadi Party patriarch, Mulayam Singh Yadav, wrested the seat from Ramakant Yadav in the 2014 elections, further solidifying the party's influence in the region. In 2019, Akhilesh Yadav secured a resounding victory, maintaining the party's stronghold in Azamgarh. 

But after Akhilesh Yadav resigned from the seat in 2002 to retain the Karhal assembly seat, a bypoll had to be conducted for the constituency, which was won by BJP leader and popular actor Dinesh Lal Yadav 'Nirahua'. With the BJP naming 'Nirahua' again for the seat, the SP will face a tough fight in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections to reclaim its bastion.  

The Azamgarh Lok Sabha constituency has five Assembly segments — Gopalpur, Sagri, Azamgarh, Mubarakpur, and Mehnagar.

Spread across 4,054 square kilometres, Azamgarh district has a population of 4,613,913 as per the 2011 census. The district is known for its diverse demographic composition, with people from various religious and cultural backgrounds. The official language spoken in the district is Hindi, and the literacy rate stands at 70.03%.

Azamgarh's economy is primarily agrarian, with agriculture being the main occupation of the local populace. The district is known for the production of crops such as sugarcane, oil seeds, and potato.