Gorakhpur: A Saffron Bastion
Gorakhpur Lok Sabha seat is the second much-sought after constituency in Uttar Pradesh after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s parliamentary constituency Varanasi. In the Lok Sabha polls, two Bhojpuri actors – incumbent BJP MP Ravi Kishan and SP’s Kajal Nishad are vying for the prestigious seat. Though it going to minimal influence, BSP has fielded Javed Ashraf.
Gorakhpur is known in the electoral arena as the bastion of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. He represented the constancy in 1998, 1999, 2004, 2009, and 2014. Yogi Adityanath held the seat till 2017. The seat was left vacant when he became the Chief Minister of the State. In the subsequent by-election conducted in 2018, the BJP suffered a massive setback, and Praveen Kumar Nishad won the seat on the SP ticket.
In 2019, Ravi Kishan regained the constituency for BJP. In the polls, he defeated the SP candidate by a whopping margin of 3,01,664 votes. His political entry was with Congress. In his first election in 2014, he contested unsuccessfully from Uttar Pradesh”s Jaunpur Lok Sabha constituency. In 2017, he switched over to BJP. Aside from a movie actor, he is a well-known television personality as well.
In the polls, SP has fielded Kajal Nishad, for the Gorakhpur Lok Sabha seat. She is looking for the first win in her fourth election. Though she contested assembly elections from Gorakhpur Rural on a Congress ticket and Campierganj from a SP ticket, she failed to secure victory in both the elections. She has also contested unsuccessfully from the Gorakhpur mayor election as well.
BSP candidate Javed Ashraf is a new face in the election. He is quite active on the organisational front, and successfully managed the responsibilities.
In Gorakhpur, majority of the voters from the constituency belongs to backward classes. The Lok Sabha seat is considered a stronghold of the BJP, besides, Modi-Yogi factor it is held as a saffron bastion due to influence of Gorakshnath Peeth.
The Lok Sabha constituency, comprises five Assembly segments: Caimpiyarganj, Pipraich, Gorakhpur Urban, Gorakhpur Rural, and Sahajanwa.
