Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav had the left the choice of candidate from party to Mohd Azam Khan, who opted for the former member of UP Minorities Commission Nasheed Ahmad Khan.

Since Rampur has a predominantly Muslim population in Rohilkhand region, but for BJP all other major political parties have fielded Muslim candidates.

Beside Nasheed Ahmad Khan, Congress has fielded local MLA and son of erstwhile royal family, Nawab Kazim Ali Khan; BSP has given ticket to Dr Nepal Singh, who is leader of party in UP Legislative Council. BSP has also given ticket to Hazi Akbar Husain and AAP’s candidate is Salman Ali khan.

This time there would be no glamour in Rampur as Bollywood actress and sitting MP Jaya Pradha has joined RLD. She is now contesting from Bijnor. In 2009 Lok Sabha polls, Muslims and Mohd Azam Khan were not with Jaya Pradha, who won because of mobilisation of Hindu votes by none other then Kalyan Singh, as the latter was helping Mulayam Singh Yadav after leaving BJP.

It may be mentioned here that it was over the candidature of Jaya Pradha in 2009 that Mohd Azam Khan had left Samajwadi Party and had criticised Mulayam Singh Yadav for three years before returning back to party during 2012 assembly polls and won Rampur assembly seat by securing record 55 per cent to total votes polled.

Mohd Azam Khan, who is encashing his image of being the Muslim face of the party, is telling people about work done by the Akhilesh Yadav government for minorities because of his advice.

But rival candidates are raising the issue of Muzaffarnagar riots and mishandling by the UP state while dealing with the refugees in the camps.

Moreover, that the riots took place in Muzaffarnagar, of which Mohd Azam Khan was himself in charge, but he never visited the area after the riots, is an issue that is dogging the SP leader.

The rival candidates are also raking up the fact that there have been more than 100 small and big cases of communal riots and minorities have suffered greatly because of them. They have been dealt a dirty hand, they say, and don’t feel safe under the Samajwadi Party government anymore. The minorities allege that SP government has failed dramatically in controlling the deterioration in law and order situation of the state.

Mohd Azam Khan is also facing wrath of local population for his alleged role in demolition of structures created by the family of Begum Noor Banu, who had represented this constituency twice in 1996 and 1999. Her son Nawab Kazim Ali Khan is contesting this election but on a Congress ticket. The late Zulfiqar Ali Khan, Noor Banu’s husband and Kazim Ali’s father represented this constituency four times since 1971. Evidently, Congress is banking on the popularity and influence of the local royal family.

At the same time Congress is also banking on erosion of Muslim support from Samajwadi Party for its role in Muzaffarnagar communal riots. Congress workers are also telling people about steps taken by the UPA government for minorities, which could not be delivered to the local public because of the lack of support from SP government.

At the time of releasing the candidates list, BSP supremo Mayawati, too, claimed that her party would not allow communal forces to in from UP. She alleged that there was a secret understanding between Mulayam and Modi. Her candidate Haji Akbar Husain has been telling masses about the covert ‘pact’.

Similarly, AAP too has fielded a Muslim candidate Salman Ali Khan to inflict some damage on the major players in the elections. It may be mentioned that that the AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal had good response to public meeting in Rampur when he undertook road show from Ghaziabad to Kanpur earlier this month. Arvind Kejriwal is taking the advantage of the fact he is contesting against Narendra Modi in Varanasi and had shown rare courage to take Modi head on in Gujarat. Kejriwal, during his recent visit to the western state, had busted some myths and exposed some of the bogus claims put forward by the so-called Gujarat model of development.

Taking the election seriously, BJP has fielded Dr Nepal Singh, who is the leader of the party in UP legislative Council. But there was great opposition by local leaders, who were in favour of Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, BJP national vice-president. Naqvi had won from Rampur in 1998.

Local leaders were so annoyed with Dr Nepal Singh that they did not attend the welcome reception, which was held at a place other then local party office.

But the manner in which BJP in-charge of UP affairs Amit Shah launched his campaign from Rampur and attacked Mohd Azam Khan is intriguing. It made a serious effort to turn the election into a bipolar contest between BJP and Samajwadi Party.

In sum, it would be interesting to see the multi-cornered election in Rampur where voting is scheduled to take place on 17 April. (IPA Service)