BJP's Ghanshyam Singh Lodhi Eyeing For A Second-Term At Uttar Pradesh's Rampur (image-X/GSLodhiBJP)

Uttar Pradesh’s Rampur Lok Sabha constituency comprises of five legislative assemblies including Suar, Chamraua, Bilaspur, and Milak (SC reserved). BJP”s sitting MP Ghanshyam Singh Lodhi has been nominated again by the party to stand for the Lok Sabha elections from the Rampur constituency.

In 2014, BJP’s Dr Naipal Singh won the seat with 37 percent votes. Samajwadi Party’s (SP) Mohammad Azam Khan secured the seat in 2019, beating BJP’s actor-turned-politician Jaya Prada, who was granted bail within two hours of surrendering in Rampur court after being accused of violating the code of conduct during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

In the 2022 by-elections, the saffron party took back the Rampur Lok Sabha seat once again as Ghanshyam Singh Lodhi won with 51 percent votes, defeating SP’s Mohammad Asim Raza.

Born on 6 May 1967, Ghanshyam Singh Lodhi, who is an OBC, started his political career under the BJP. He served as a member of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council from 2004 under the Rashtriya Kranti Party of Kalyan Singh, one of the key faces of Hindu Nationalism and of the Ram Temple campaign. BJP’s Singh was also the Chief Minister of the state during the Babri Masjid demolition.

As a BSP candidate, he had contested the Lok Sabha elections from Rampur in 2009 but came third. He was elected as a member of the state as the Legislative Council from the Rampur-Bareilly area under the Samajwadi Party (SP) in 2016. He later rejoined the BJP during the assembly polls in 2022. But his demands for a ticket for MLC polls was denied by the party.

Recently, he inaugurated seven roads built in the district under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna. Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, the incumbent MP Lodhi has also stated that the government was working to connect all village routes with major roads.