Thursday, 18 APRIL 2024 | PNS | DEHRADUN
In Haridwar Lok Sabha constituency where former chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat is locked in a direct battle with Virendra Singh Rawat of Congress party, the Muslim and Dalit vote banks will play an important role in deciding the outcome of the elections. It is estimated that Muslims and Dalits constitute more than 50 per cent of the 20, 31,632 -strong electorate of Haridwar Lok Sabha constituency and their electoral inclination has affected the result in almost all the political battles in the past.
There are an estimated 5.50 lakh Muslim voters in the constituency which is about 27 per cent of the total electorate of the Haridwar Lok Sabha which is spread into all 11 Assembly constituencies of Haridwar district and three Assemblies (Rishikesh, Doiwala and Dharampur). The concentration of Muslim population is more in Piran Kalier, Manglaur, Laksar, and Jwalapur Assembly segments of Haridwar district. Apart from these constituencies pockets of Muslims concentration are found in Haridwar rural, Khanpur and Dharampur (Dehradun) assembly segments. In the Assembly elections of 2022, BSP candidates won from Laksar ( Mohamad Shajad) and Manglaur ( Sarwat Karim Ansari) while Furkan Ahmed of Congress party retained his seat in Piran Kalier assembly.
It is estimated that the Haridwar LS constituency has about 4.5 lakh Dalit voters. They are concentrated in almost all Assembly segments of Haridwar district. Three assembly constituencies in Haridwar district are reserved for Scheduled Castes (SC). They are Jawalapur, Bhagwanpur and Jhabreda. Incidentally all the SC seats in Haridwar districts were won by the candidates of Congress party in the Assembly elections of 2022.
The formidable vote bank of Dalit and Muslims had prompted the then BSP supremo Kansi Ram to field Mayawati from Haridwar in the by-election of 1987. In the same election Ram Vilas Paswan also entered into the electoral fray on the ticket of Janata Party. The Muslim –Dalit vote bank helped Rajendra Badi of Samajwadi Party (SP) to win from Haridwar LS in 2004. Similarly Congress leader Harish Rawat, who decided to contest from Haridwar in the LS election of 2009 after his traditional Almora LS constituency, was reserved for SC candidates. Rawat won in this election and became a cabinet minister in Manmohan Singh government.
In the elections of 2014 and 2019, Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank of BJP secured victory from Haridwar. The political analyst opine that while Muslim vote bank split into BSP and Congress in both these elections, a good portion of Dalit vote shifted to BJP.
In the ensuing elections, there is a direct contest between former CM Trivendra Singh Rawat of BJP and Virendra Singh Rawat of Congress party. The BSP candidate Jamil Ahmed Kasmi and independent Umesh Kumar are trying to make the contest multi cornered. The Congress is hoping that the Muslim vote bank will not get split into it and BSP this time and is trying to woo the Dalits back into its fold. The BJP on the other hand is planning to woo the Dalit vote into its kitty to retain the constituency for third consecutive time.
