Kripashankar Singh Returns To His Native Constituency Jaunpur On BJP Ticket
Kripashankar Singh has been given the BJP’s ticket to run for the 18th Lok Sabha election from Jaunpur, his birthplace. He was a former minister of state in 2004, in the Congress-led government in Maharashtra. Singh has been instrumental in Congress” gains in Mumbai against Shiv Sena during Maharashtra assembly elections in 2009. He was the president of the Mumbai Regional Congress Committee from 2007 till 2011 and won the Santacruz constituency in the last Mumbai elections. In 2009, Singh was elected to the Maharashtra assembly from the Kalina constituency.
Being part of Congress in Mumbai, a city filled with migrants from across the country, he had remained a popular face in strengthening Congress position by bringing in North Indian voters. In 2021, Singh joined the BJP after quitting the Indian National Congress in 2019. He developed differences with the Congress over the decision to oppose the NDA government’s policy over Jammu and Kashmir and abrogation of Article 370.
In 2011, a Public Interest Litigation was filed against him and his family in an alleged case of disproportionate income accumulation of Rs 230 crores. The Bombay High Court ordered the city police commissioner to bring charges against Kripashankar Singh on February 22, 2012, for “criminal misconduct” in accordance with the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.
The Jaurpur Constituency is represented by Shyam Singh Yadav of BSP in the Lok Sabha who won 50.08% of votes in the 2019 elections. In that election, the BJP gained 42.30% votes. The constituency had a BJP MP in 2014. Since 1989 the BJP has represented the constituency four times in the lower house.
Jaunpur is a general category parliament seat with a literacy rate of 60.78%. It has an SC voter population of 20.4%. The Rural voters are 89.9% and urban voters constitute 10.1% of the total population of Jaunpur.
