Rajesh Verma: BJP's Trust In The Sitapur Seat (image: twitter.com/MPRajeshVerma)
Rajesh Verma is a sitting MP and BJP candidate in Uttar Pradesh’s Sitapur parliamentary constituency for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. A 63-year-old politician, Rajesh Verma, is seeking his fifth term in the general elections.
Rajesh Verma”s political debut was with the BSP, and after leaving about 22 years of political legacy, his second innings with the BJP began in 2013.
In 1996, Verma”s political career started when he contested the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly polls from Behta segment under the BSP ticket. But he suffered defeat by a margin of 13,294 votes. In the 1999 general elections, he tasted his first victory as a BSP candidate from Sitapur constituency, defeating the BJP”s Janardan Prasad Mishra. He retained the seat in the 2004 general election as well.
However, his contest from the Dhaurahra parliamentary constituency in the 2009 election resulted in defeat. Rajesh Verma lost to then-Congress leader Jitin Prasada by a margin of 1,84,509 votes.
His return to Sitapur constituency was under a BJP ticket in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. In the election, Rajesh Verma defeated his opponent, BSP”s Kaisar Jahan, by a margin of 51,027 votes. Similarly, in the 2019 General Elections, Rajesh Verma defeated BSP”s Nakul Dubey for 1,00,833 votes, doubled the margin of votes considering the previous elections, and retained the Sitapur seat.
During several periods, and while serving both parties, veteran political leader held several positions, such as member of various committees, and was once a Chairman of the Committee on Absence of Members from the Sittings of the House Member, Parliamentary Forum on Water Conservation and Management. In 2015, the party appointed him as the state president of the BJP OBC Morcha in Uttar Pradesh.
In February last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi lauded the efforts of Sitapur MP in the cleanliness campaign conducted in his constituency and tweeted, “I believe this will increase awareness among people to keep their environment clean.”
