BJP Fields Sitting MP Pradeep Kumar From Kairana, Uttar Pradesh (image-facebook/Pradeep Choudhary)
Belonging from the Gujjar community, Pradeep Choudhary represented the Gangoh constituency of Uttar Pradesh in 2017. In the 2024 elections, he has once again been nominated as the BJP candidate from the Kairana Lok Sabha constituency in Uttar Pradesh.
The small town in west Uttar Pradesh, Kairana has a rich history of Hindustani classical name, being the birthplace of Ustad Abdul Karim Khan, an artist who defined Hindustani classic music. In recent times, the small town has become a centre of Hindu-Muslim polarisation with the BJP claiming that around 250 filmmakers left Kairana for fear of “Muslims and criminals,” as quoted in a Deccan Herald report.
The constituency has a substantial Muslim population, around 80 percent as per the 2011 census. Notably, Kairana was also affected by the Muzaffarnagar riots in 2013. But the seat is dominated by the Gujjar OBC community.
In 2014, BJP fielded late Hukum Singh as its candidate for the Kairana seat. Singh won securing 50 percent votes, defeating Samajwadi Party’s Nahid Hasan. In the by-elections of 2018, Rashtriya Lok Dal’s (RLD) Tabassum Hasan, mother of Nahid Hasan, emerged victorious with a margin of nearly 50,000 votes. She was supported by a “grand coalition” consisting of Congress, SP and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). A year later, in the 2019 elections, she switched parties and contested under the SP banner only to be defeated by BJP’s Pradeep Choudhary who secured 50 percent votes.
Now, in the 2024 elections, BJP has once again fielded Choudhary to regain his seat. Interestingly, he now faces another member of the Hasan family – Iqra Hasan, the SP candidate. The London returned daughter of late Chaudhary Munawwar Hasan and Tabassum Hasan.
While Pradeep Choudhary belongs to the Gujjar community, his opponent Iqra Hasan comes from the Muslim Gujjar community.
The Kairana Lok Sabha constituency presently consists of five legislative assembly segments such as Nakur, Gangoh, Thana Bhawan and Shamli.
The three-time MLA was first elected in 2000 from Nakur assembly constituency under RLD. In 2012, he was elected from Gangoh for the 16th legislative assembly of the state, under Congress. A year later, he was once again elected at Gangoh but this time as a member of BJP, defeating Congress candidate Nauman Masood. Kumar finished his post-graduation from Maharaj Singh College at Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh.
