Unnao (Uttar Pradesh): Swami Sachchidanand Hari Sakshi nee Sakshi Maharaj of BJP won from the Unnao Lok Sabha segment in Uttar Pradesh for the third consecutive time. He emerged victorious in the electoral battle in 2019, 2014 and 2024. In 2019, he garnered 703,507 votes, defeating Samajwadi Party's Arun Shanker Shukla by a margin of over 400,956 votes. Similarly, in 2014, Sakshi Maharaj triumphed with 518,834 votes.
Inn 2024 Lok Sabha polls, eight nominees, who contested in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections from this seat, include Ashok Kumar Pandey, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Annu Tandon, Samajwadi Party (SP), Himanshu Sharma, Bhartiya Shakti Chetna Party (BHSCP), Saif Khan, Parcham Party of India (PPOI), Swami Sachchidanand Hari Sakshi, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Saiyyad Sarfaraz Gandhi, Independent (IND), Shiv Prakash Singh, Independent (IND) and Umesh, Independent (IND).
The Unnao Lok Sabha constituency situated between Lucknow and Kanpur has a unique record. Usually, records are created in victories and defeats in elections and only those remain in the minds of the people. But, apart from this, many other records are also created, intentionally or unintentionally, about which people have very little information.
One such record has been created in the Unnao Lok Sabha seat. This is the segment where the maximum number of candidates contested the elections. About which hardly people are aware. In the Lok Sabha elections held in 1996 in Unnao, the maximum number of 52 candidates contested in the polls, which remains a record till date.
Till now 17 general and one bypoll have been held in the Unnao district. If we look at the previous elections, the officers had to work hard in 1996 as 52 candidates had filed their nominations and entered the fray intending to win.
But, the deposits of 51 candidates were forfeited. In subsequent elections, such a large number of candidates never contested. For such a large list of candidates, a separate ballot box and a very long ballot paper were made. The ballot box was four feet long and the ballot paper was about one metre long. At that time, elections were conducted using ballot papers and not EVMs.
Talking about the candidates, 21 candidates each filed nominations in the 2009 and 2014 general elections. In all, 16 candidates contested in the 2004 elections, 15 in 1991, 14 in 1999 and 10 each in 1998 and 1980 to win the elections.
In the subsequent elections, the number of candidates did not even reach double digits. In the elections of 2019, 1977 and 1962, eight candidates each tried their luck, seven in 1989, six in 1984, five in 1967 and four each in 1957 and 1971.
The dream of people, who entered the fray as candidates from various national and regional parties, as well as independents with the hope that their luck would smile on them and they would enter Parliament by winning remained a 'dream'. The record number of candidates contested in 1996 has not been broken even after 28 years.
