BJP Fields Sitting MP Arun Kumar Sagar From Shahjahanpur Constituency (image-X/arunksagarbjp)While in the 2009 general elections, Samajwadi Party (SP) candidate Mithlesh Kumar reigned supreme, the BJP’s Krishna Raj took over the Lok Sabha seat in the 2019 elections, securing 46 percent of the votes. However, the former Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Raj, was dropped for former BSP member and Dalit leader Arun Kumar Sagar for the 2019 elections.
BJP district president KC Mishra stated that the party has put their faith in Sagar and believes that it will again achieve the biggest victory by contesting the elections with Arun Sagar with full strength.
A resident of Chavarkhas village in Katra, Arun Sagar began his journey into politics with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). Sagar has also served as the district president since 2006. In 2007, he became the Vice Chairman of the Government Construction Corporation. In 2009, Sagar was expelled from the BSP on charges of anti-organisation activities. However, he later rejoined the party.
He faced defeat after contesting elections from a Puwayan reserved assembly seat on the BSP ticket in 2012. Three years later, the party once again expelled Sagar.
A year later, he joined the BJP, which made him the vice president of the Braj region. In 2019, BJP surprised everyone by giving him ticket to contest from Shahjahanpur seat. Sagar secured over 58 percent of the votes, with a considerable margin, with BSP’s Amar Chandra Jauhar only managing around 35 percent of votes.
In 2022, Sagar was declared absconding by a special MP/MLA court in Shahjahanpur for failing to appear before the court related to a violation of the Model Code of Conduct during the 2019 elections. In 2019, Sagar was among the many members of the ruling BJP-led NDA who chanted “Jai Shri Ram” during the second day of the swearing-in ceremony of the newly elected Parliamentarians.
Now, the saffron party has expressed its confidence in Arun Sagar for the second consecutive time and nominated him to contest from Shahjahanpur.
Uttar Pradesh’s Shahjahanpur Lok Sabha constituency comprises six Vidhan Sabhas, including Katra, Jalalabad, Tilhar, Shahjahanapur, Dadraul, and Powayan (SC reserved). All six legislative assemblies fall under the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) umbrella.