Aurangabad: The Lok Sabha election is expected to turn interesting in Aurangabad this year as Upendra Prasad Verma of Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) is contesting against the sitting MP Sushil Singh of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The first phase of election in Bihar will be held on April 11.
In 2014 Lok Sabha elections, BJP's Sushil Singh won from Aurangabad by 3,07,914 votes and defeated Nikhil Kumar of Congress. However, in the current scenario, the equation has changed as Sushil Singh will face Upendra Prasad, a candidate fielded by the grand alliance formed by the opposition parties against the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
Upendra Prasad, considered to be the prime competitor of Sushil Singh, took a jibe at him and commented that now the politics of Aurangabad had entered ground reality rather than dealing with palaces.
On being questioned about his closest opponent, Sushil Singh said, "The fight is one-sided and there is no strong candidate."
Singh recalled the work done by the central and state government as well as in his parliamentary constituency. He also said that the main agenda of his campaign will be focussed on developmental activities.
Aurangabad- 'Mini Chittorgarh'
Aurangabad is also known as 'Mini Chittorgarh' due to its high population of Rajputs. Only Rajput candidates have won the first election since 1952 in Aurangabad.
Number of voters in Aurangabad's Lok Sabha constituency:
Total voters -13,76,323
Male voters - 7,38,617
Female voters - 6,37,706
Rajput voters have the highest population, whereas Yadav voters come in a close second. Other include: Muslims - 8.5%, Kushwaha - 8.5%, Bhumihar- 6.8%, SC and Mahadalit -19%
The equation of assembly seats:
Under the Aurangabad constituency, there are six assembly seats:
- Kutumba
- Aurangabad
- Rafiganj
- Gurua
- Imamganj
- Tikari
Two of these seats Kutumba and Imamganj are reserved. Three seats - Aurangabad, Kutumba and Rafiganj are in Aurangabad district whereas, Imamganj, Gurua and Koch assembly seats fall under the Gaya district.
In Bihar assembly elections of 2015, out of six seats, two went to Congress, two JDU, 1 BJP and one seat to HAM.
Political journey of MP Sushil Singh:
In 1998, MP Sushil Singh contested the election from Samata Party and defeated Virendra Kumar Singh. In 2014, after the separation of BJP and JDU, Sushil Singh left JDU and joined the BJP. In the last election, he defeated his rival Congress candidate Nikhil Kumar by 66,347 votes
Political journey of Upendra Prasad Verma:
Before becoming a candidate of the grand alliance, he was a Member of Legislative Council from JDU and insisted for Aurangabad ticket. But after the seat went to BJP, he changed the party and confirmed his ticket from Aurangabad from Jitan Ram Manjhi's party.
Prime electoral issues of Aurangabad parliamentary constituency:
- Incomplete North Koel Canal Project and Naxalism
- Decreasing water levels
- Irrigation facilities and drinking water
- Issues related to sugarcane farmers
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