Rampur Lok Sabha Seat 2024: Congress's Parleys With SP Yet To Yield Results As Party Fights For Former Bastion

Rampur Lok Sabha Election 2024: Mayawati's decision to go solo in these polls will surely divide the Muslim votes in the Rampur constituency which was once a Congress stronghold.

One of the historically most important Lok Sabha constituencies in Uttar Pradesh is the Rampur seat. Currently held by BJP leader Ghanshyam Singh Lodhi, the Rampur seat in Rampur district, has been held by tall political leaders and luminaries of India such as Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Zulfiquar Ali Khan, Rajendra Kumar Sharma, Naipal Singh, and Jaya Prada. The seat was also held by jailed Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan for a brief period.

Rampur often reminds one of the infamous Rampuri chaku (Rampuri knife/switchblade) that was developed by the royal bladesmiths of the Nawabs of the region. Spread across 2,367 square km, the Rampur district hosts a population of 2,335,819, as per the 2011 census. The predominantly Muslim district has a 53.34% literacy rate and an average sex ratio of 909.

The incumbent MP in the Muslim-dominated constituency is BJP's Ghanshyam Singh Lodhi, who defeated SP's Mohammad Asim Raza in the 2022 bypoll by over 42,000 votes.

Azam Khan's Clout Over Rampur

The Rampur Lok Sabha area includes 5 assembly segments -- Rampur, Bilaspur, Suar, Chamraua, and Milak. Of these, Rampur Assembly seat was considered to be the bastion of the Azam Khan family, having been won by Azam Khan or his wife Tazeen Fatma between 1980 and 2022.

The assembly seat was wrested from the SP in 2022 by the BJP's Akash Saxena, son of former UP Cabinet minister Shiv Bahadur Saxena.

Azam Khan contested the Rampur Lok Sabha seat in 2019 and defeated BJP leader and former MP from the constituency Jaya Prada. However, the Samajwadi Party leader resigned from the post after he won the Karhal assembly seat in 2022. In the bypoll that followed, Ghanshyam Singh Lodhi defeated the SP's Mohammad Asim Raza by over 42,000 votes.

Congress-SP Equation Crucial

The fight for the Rampur seat would be interesting in the 2024 Lok Sabha election as the SP and the Congress are negotiating tough over the Muslim-dominated seat. The delay in fixing a candidate could hurt the I.N.D.I.A's chances, more so because of the confusing signals being sent out by both parties over a seat-sharing formula.

Mayawati's decision to go solo in these polls will surely divide the Muslim votes in the Rampur constituency which was once a Congress stronghold. So, whoever is fielded from this seat by the I.N.D.I.A bloc should have a good connection with the voter bases of both the Muslim and the OBC communities to stand a chance against the BJP and the BSP.