Swami Prasad Maurya or RPN Singh – Who Will Win The Hot Seat of Padrauna?

Padrauna Assembly Election 2022: In the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, Maurya had fought the election on BJP ticket and had won the Vidhan Sabha seat. He had defeated  Bahujan Samaj Party's Javed Iqbal with a margin of 40552 votes.

New Delhi: Padrauna Assembly constituency under Kushi Nagar district of Uttar Pradesh is set to witness a high-octane battle this year as Swami Prasad Maurya, the sitting MLA of the Vidhan Sabha seat switched to the Samajwadi Party (SP). In the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, Maurya had fought the election on BJP ticket and had won the constituency. He had defeated  Bahujan Samaj Party’s (BSP) Javed Iqbal with a margin of 40552 votes.

Padrauna Assembly Election Results 2017

Dramatic Political Upheavals

This year, the Padrauna Assembly constituency has witnessed dramatic political upheaval before the crucial polls. Earlier this month, Swami Prasad Maurya left everyone surprised when he announced his resignation and joined hands with Akhilesh’s Samajwadi Party (SP). In his resignation letter, he said that he was upset at the sidelining of Dalits and weaker sections of society. He had been upset because his son Utkarsh Maurya had not been “suitably accommodated” in the Yogi Adityanath government.

Later, Ratanjit Pratap Narain (RPN) Singh, a member of the royal family of Padrauna, Kushinagar quit the Congress party and joined the BJP. Speculations are rife that the saffron party may field the former aide of Rahul Gandhi against Maurya. However, nothing has been confirmed as of now as the ruling BJP is yet to field a candidate from the hot seat.

Following RPN Singh’s resignation, Manish Jaiswal, the declared candidate of Congress from the Padrauna seat resigned from the primary membership of the party. In his resignation letter to Ajay Kumar Lallu, UP Congress president, Jaiswal asserted that he cannot contest elections for the grand old party in the current scenario.

“I was declared the candidate for the post of MLA from Congress Assembly 330 Padrauna. But on the direction of our political guide RPN Singh, I resign from both the Congress party and the post.”

RPN Singh, an OBC Kurmi, Fits Into BJP’s Plan

Swami Prasad Maurya’s defection could hit the OBC voters for the ruling BJP in constituency number 330 (Padrauna), however now, poll pundits believe that the saffron party can be benefitted from the RPN Singh (57), an OBC Kurmi. By nominating Singh from the Padrauna Vidhan Sabha seat, BJP has a higher chance to retain the constituency as he has the ability to woo the OBC voters in the poll-bound state.

For the unversed, Singh had represented Padrauna seat thrice from 1996 to 2009. However, in the last two Lok Sabha elections in 2014 and 2019, he had suffered a humiliating defeat and his vote share dropped from 17% to 8%.

Date of polling: Thursday, 03 March 2022

Result date: Thursday, 10 March 2022