Utkarsh Verma: Carrying Forward The Family Tradition (image: facebook.com/utkarsh.vermamadhur)

Utkarsh Verma Madhur is a member of the Samajwadi Party (SP) and will contest in Uttar Pradesh”s Kheri constituency in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. He holds the title of India”s youngest MLA, by winning his first Assembly election at the very young age of 25.

Utkarsh Verma, an engineering graduate and holder of Post Graduate Diploma in Management (PGDM) was working in corporate communications before joining politics. His grandfather Kaushal Kishore, three-time SP MLA from Lakhimpur Sadar, and the sudden demise of him in 2010, prompted Utkarsh to contest in election, as a responsibility of carrying forward the family tradition. He got elected in the by-poll seat in 2010 and retained his MLA position in 2012 Assembly election. Being a young candidate posed beneficial to Utkarsh in the election whether it be connected young audience, or awareness of brands and gadgets or be it connected to Facebook.

However, in 2017 Assembly election, BJP’s Yogesh Verma defeated Utkarsh Verma for a margin of 37,748 votes. Even in  2022 Assembly election, Yogesh Verma emerged victorious second time in a row by defeating Utkarsh for a margin of 20578 votes.

In one of his old interview with Times of India Utkarsh Verma”s clear insight into problems of his constituency can be observed. “Like me, most youth move to big cities to pursue graduate and post graduate education. And this temporary migration turns permanent when the search for jobs and quest for survival begins. So the answer is education and employment,” he said in the interview with TOI. Despite the setbacks, whether Utkarsh is able to gather the pulse of his constituency and people”s needs this time, the election results will tell.