Phulpur LS seat has witnessed two hat-tricks in past

ALLAHABAD: Since independence Phulpur Lok Sabha constituency has witnessed hat-trick wins twice. Country’s first Prime Minister Pt Jawahar Lal Nehru opened the constituency’s parliamentary account with three successive wins in 1951-52, 1957 and 1962 general elections on the Indian National Congress (INC) ticket.

Records reveal Ram Pujan Patel also achieved the feat. In 1984, he won the general elections there on an INC ticket followed two successive wins in 1989 and 1991 election on a Janta Dal ticket.

Now when bypoll to the seat are scheduled to be held on March 11, the BJP, whose candidate Kehsav Prasad Maurya (now deputy CM of UP) won the seat in the 2014 LS polls, is expected to benefit from the support of OBC-packed Apna Dal (Anupriya faction) which has considerable hold on Kurmi voters in and around Phulpur.

Another plus for the party is the support of Karwariya brothers--Kapilmuni, Udyabhan and Surjabhan--who previously supported the BSP and the SP. Uday Bhan Karwariya’s wife Neelam Karwariya won the Meja assembly seat on the BJP ticket.

The party has, however, not declared its candidate for the

seat.

As per BJP’s district unit media in charge Pawan Srivastava, the name of candidate was to be announced by Sunday afternoon. However, still no directives on the issue had been received from the party high command, he added.

So far, the Congress and the Samajwadi Party have announced their candidates for the Phulpur Lok Sabha bypoll. The Congress has fielded Manish Mishra while the Samajwadi Party has decided to make Nagendra Pratap Singh Patel its candidate there.

Filing of nominations for the seat started on February 13 and will conclude on February 20. Counting of votes will take place on March 14.