SP’s Tabassum set to contest Kairana but on RLD ticket

LUCKNOW/MEERUT: The Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party alliance, along with the Rashtriya Lok Dal, is fielding Muslim candidates for both the Kairana Lok Sabha and Noorpur assembly by-polls, SP sources said.

Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Tabassum Hasan is all set to contest the Kairana seat, but on RLD ticket, while Naim-ul-Hasan, also of SP, is likely to contest the Noorpur seat on SP ticket.

Tabassum had been a BSP MP from the seat between 2009 and 2014. While SP sources confirmed the candidature of Tabassum (on RLD ticket) for Kairana and Naim for Noorpur, an official announcement was awaited.

The formula for Kairana has been calculated keeping Jat votes in mind. SP’s earlier plan to field a Muslim candidate from the seat, as the constituency has over five lakh Muslim voters, and RLD’s plan to make its vice president Jayant Chaudhary contest the seat did not find favour with the SP-BSP alliance.

The alliance felt that Jayant would not appeal to Muslim voters while Tabassum, on SP ticket, would have been able to win Muslim votes, but unable to attract Jat votes. Thus, a Muslim candidate on RLD (with Jat vote base) ticket was calculated as the best bet. This formula is quite similar to the one that the SP adopted in fielding NISHAD Party president’s son Praveen Nishad on SP ticket from the Gorakhpur Lok Sabha seat.

Sudhir Panwar, a west UP leader and former member of the state planning commission in Samajwadi Party government, said that because RLD is a prominent party in west UP, the Kairana seat has been given to them.

Meanwhile, the Congress is in a dilemma whether to field candidates on the two seats or not, as the alliance so far has not sought its support. The Congress candidates had lost their deposit in the Gorakhpur and Phulpur Lok Sabha by-polls in March, while SP candidates defeated BJP on both the seats.

Kairana and Noorpur seats fell vacant following the death of BJP lawmakers. MP Hukum Singh passed away after illness in February, while Lokendra Singh, the Noorpur MLA, died in a road accident in the same month.

TABASSUM HAD BEEN A BSP MP FROM THE SEAT BETWEEN 2009 AND 2014.