Intellectual voters here believe in long-term relations with reps
Known as home to intellectual and well-educated voters, Allahabad North assembly constituency is in existence with the same name since 1957. It houses Allahabad University, Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology (MNNIT) and Institute of Engineering and Rural Technology besides dozens of coaching institutes and schools. Bulk of residents here are serving and retired government servants, teachers, professors, government job aspirants—people who have earned it the title of having most intellectual voters of the region.
A look at the past election results of the seat shows that people here form long term relations with their representatives paying little heed to their political party affiliations. During the past over six decades, the seat has been with a member one of the just three families.
Between 1962 and 1977, Rajendra Kumari Bajpai of the Congress was elected MLA four times while her son Ashok Kumar Bajpai, also of the Congress, got elected in 1980. In 1985, 1989, 2007 and 2012 Anugrah Narayan Singh of the Congress became MLA while between 1991 and 2002 BJP’s Narendra Kumar Singh Gaur was elected MLA.
The 2017 polls saw Harshvardhan Bajpai, grandson of Rajendra Kumari Bajpai becoming MLA, albeit on BJP ticket. Home to 4,38,237 voters, the assembly constituency is dominated by Brahmin (1.10 lakh) and Kayastha (90,000) voters.
Development issues: Though forming heart of Sangam city and now inching towards becoming a smart city, flood remains a major problem for locals here.
Every year, densely populated localities like Rajapur, Beli, Salori, Baghada, Govindpur, Daraganj and Teliyarganj among others face heavy flooding during monsoons when the Ganga and the Yamuna rivers rise. The floods annually affect around 20,000 homes housing up to over 2.5 lakh people.
Another major issue here is the state land that people have been demanding to be converted to freehold for decades now.
Over 1 lakh houses are built on state land in localities like Rajapur, Unchwagadi, Mehendauri, Govindpur, Salori and Baghada. The past five years have witnessed good development here with construction of roads and by-lanes, beautification of parks and even crime control.
The problem of traffic jams too has been addressed to a great extent. However, the promise of new job avenues and more jobs remains a dream.