Varanasi Seat: Who Is Athar Jamal Lari? Muslim Candidate Fielded By BSP Against PM Modi

Varanasi Seat: The BSP announced Athar Jamal Lari as their candidate against Prime Minister Modi. A veteran politician with an unsuccessful record, Lari gets the BSP ticket after rebelling from the Samajwadi Party.

Varanasi Seat: The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) on Tuesday announced its candidate for the Varanasi constituency in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, pitting a Muslim contender against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Former Rajya Sabha MP Ghanshyam Chand Kharwar declared Athar Jamal Lari as the BSP candidate, a rebel Samajwadi Party leader, for the Varanasi Lok Sabha seat.

Who Is Athar Jamal Lari? BSP Fields SP Rebel Against PM Modi In Varanasi

A seasoned politician at the age of approximately 66, Athar Jamal Lari has contested in three assembly and two Lok Sabha elections, albeit without much success. He had joined the Samajwadi Party just before the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections. A known figure in the politics of Purvanchal, Lari has rebelled against the Samajwadi Party and is now contesting Varanasi on the BSP's symbol.

Lari hails from the heart of Varanasi, with his political experience dating back to 1980. He has had temporary stints with several parties such as the Janata Dal, the Samajwadi Party, the Apna Dal, and the Quami Ekta Dal, the latter once led by the late Mukhtar Ansari.

According to a report by Mint, Lari's first foray into the Lok Sabha elections from Varanasi dates back to 1984 under the Janata Party banner, where he secured 50,329 votes, trailing behind Shyamlal Yadav of the Congress party. Subsequent attempts followed in 2004, from Sonelal Patel's Apna Dal, where he garnered 93,228 votes but fell short of victory to Rajesh Kumar Mishra of the Congress party. 

Lari has also contested in Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections for the Varanasi Cantt seat in 1991 and 1993 under the Janata Dal banner, as well as in the 2012 elections from Varanasi South representing Mukhtar Ansari's Quami Ekta Dal, the report stated.

The BSP's choice of nominee echoes Mayawati's decision to field Mukhtar Ansari against BJP stalwart Murli Manohar Joshi in 2009, where the strategy failed to yield a favourable outcome for her party with the saffron party winning the seat.

While the BJP has once again nominated PM Modi for the Varanasi seat, the Congress-led I.N.D.I.A. bloc has also repeated Uttar Pradesh Congress Chief Ajay Rai as its candidate. Transgender Mahamandaleshwar Hemangi Sakhi was announced as a candidate for this seat, but the Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha has decided to withdraw her candidature and urged other parties not to field candidates against the Prime Minister.

PM Modi has been representing the Varanasi seat in Lok Sabha since 2014 when he formed his first government at the Centre.

(With Inputs By Nishant Chaturvedi)