UPDATE:
At the final count, the SP’s Nagendra Pratap Singh Patel defeated the BJP’s aushalendra Singh Patel by 59,000 votes. Manish Mishra of the Indian National Congress polled 19,000 votes. In Gorakhpur too the lead of the SP over the BJP was 29,000 votes. History sheeter Atiq Ansari polled 49,000 votes
The Lok Sabha constituency of Phulpur in the Allahabad district and Lower Doab region of Uttar Pradesh saw India’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru into Parliament for three consecutive terms since Indepedence (1952, 1957 and 1962). Following Nehru’s death in 1962 his sister Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit represented the seat for two terms. Former Prime Minister VP Singh was also elected from Phulpur on a Congress ticket in 1971.
Image: Reuters
Today’s result saw the Samajwadi Patel’s Nagendra Pratap Singh Patel leading by over 40,000 votes.
Today, there are 19,61,472 voters in the constituency of which 10,78,173 are male, 8,83,101 female and 198 others. In the by-polls held on March 11, 2018, Phulpur registered a voter turnout of 64%. 22 candidates are in the fray including BJP’s Kaushalendra Singh Patel and SP’s Nagendra Pratap Singh Patel. The by-elections in the seat was necessitated because of the resignation of Keshav Prasad Maurya as a Member of Parliament, following him being chosen as the Deputy Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. BJP’s Keshav Prasad Maurya won the seat in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections defeating Samajwadi Party’s (SP) Dharam Raj Singh Patel by a margin of over 3 lakh votes.
This time round, at the last count the BJP’s Kaushalendra Singh Patel was trailing with 2,41,465 votes behind Nagendra Pratap Singh Patel ho has obtained 2,81,445. INC’s Manish Mishra was a poor player in this election but Atiq Ahmed with dubious background (fielded to ‘cut’ the minority vote) drew 43,468 votes. The other player with such a background often brought in to muddy poll waters is notorious Brijesh Mishra who’s writ runs beyond the jail where he is lodged. So any discourse on criminal actions and corruptions cuts across all parties including the nationally dominant BJP.
In 1962, Nehru defeated Ram Manohar Lohia in Phulpur with a margin of more than 50,000 votes. After Jawaharlal Nehru’s death, Phulpur was represented by Nehru’s sister Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit from 1964 to 1968.
In 1969, Janeshwar Mishra, then a leader of the Samyukta Socialist Party, won the bypoll in Phulpur, defeating the Congress’ K D Malviya with a margin of more than 20,000 votes. For the first time, Phulpur voted for a non-Congress party.
Besides Nehru, Phulpur has been represented by another Prime Minister–VP Singh. In 1971 Lok Sabha elections, VP Singh, a Congress candidate, won the seat by defeating BD Singh of the Bharatiya Kranti Dal.
Phulpur was then represented by the Janata Dal from 1989 to 1996. Ram Pujan Patel, who first won Phulpur on a Congress ticket in 1984 subsequently retained the seat as a Janata Dal lawmaker from 1989 to 1996.
Member of a Patel subcaste of Uttar Pradesh has won Phulpur from 1980 to 2004. It started with BD Singh’s win in 1980, followed by Ram Pujan Patel winning Phulpur thrice and then Jang Bahadur Patel of the Samajwadi Party defeating Kanshi Ram of the Bahujan Samaj Party in 1996.
Jang Bahadur Patel retained Phulpur in 1998 Lok Sabha elections. In the Lok Sabha elections next year, Dharmraj Patel of the Samajwadi Party defeated Beni Madhav Bind of the BJP.In the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, then Samajwadi Party candidate Atiq Ahmed won Phulpur. The historysheeter is in fray this time too, but as an Independent candidate.
In 2009, Bahujan Samaj Party’s Kapil Muni Kanwariya defeated the Samajwadi Party candidate Shyama Charan Gupta with a margin of less than 15,000 votes.