CURATED BY – GUARAV SINGHAL | CITYCHIEFNEWS

Muzaffarnagar | Meerapur, Bijnor Lok Sabha seat After RLD MP Chandan Chauhan resigned from Meerapur assembly seat, the stage has been set for the by-election for this seat. Major parties SP and BJP have started selecting the candidate. In the 2022 assembly elections from Meerapur seat, SP-supported RLD candidate Chandan Chauhan defeated BJP candidate Prashant Gurjar of his own Gurjar community by a huge margin. Chandan Chauhan got 107421 votes. BJP's Prashant Gurjar got 80041 votes. BSP's Mohammad Salim was limited to 23797 only. In this Lok Sabha election, Chandan Chauhan became the first choice of Jayant Chaudhary and he succeeded in winning the Lok Sabha election from Bijnor with the support of BJP. In Meerapur assembly constituency, Chandan Chauhan got 72320 votes even in adverse conditions. SP's Deepak Saini got 63351 votes and BSP's Jat candidate Chaudhary Bijendra Singh got 55516 votes. The big difference in the results of both the elections was that while Chandan Chauhan had got 107424 votes in 2022 on SP-RLD ticket, now he may have won but his votes fell to 72320. It is believed that if the RLD candidate had been someone else instead of Chandan Chauhan, his defeat was certain. The main reason for this is that the present Meerapur and former Morna seat is considered to be the ancestral seat of Chandan Chauhan's family. In 1974, Chandan Chauhan's grandfather Babu Narayan Singh Gurjar was elected MLA and also became a minister in the Chief Minister Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna government. When Indira ji removed Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna from the post of Chief Minister during the Emergency, in protest, Chaudhary Narayan Singh refused the offer of the ministerial post despite Indira ji's strong request. In 1977, Chaudhary Narayan Singh was elected MLA from Morna seat on Janata Party ticket and was made Deputy Chief Minister in Chief Minister Babu Banarasi Das Gupta government from 1979 to 1980. He was the first Deputy Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. Chandan Chauhan's father late Sanjay Chauhan was elected MLA from Morna seat on SP ticket in 1996. Sanjay Chauhan was elected MP from Bijnor Lok Sabha seat in 2009 from RLD-BJP alliance. Meerapur assembly seat comes in Bijnor Lok Sabha constituency. In 2022, Chandan Chauhan was elected MLA with a huge margin from Lok Dal-SP alliance and just on June 4, he was elected MP from Bijnor from RLD-BJP alliance like his father. Political analysts say that Morna or Meerapur seat is as safe a stronghold for Chandan Chauhan's family as Chhaprauli is for Jayant Chaudhary's family. The SP chief would like to win the Meerapur seat at any cost. There was a tremendous wave in favor of Akhilesh Yadav in the Lok Sabha elections. As a result of this, SP managed to win 37 seats and Congress, which was part of its alliance, won 6 seats in Uttar Pradesh. While BJP's previous 62 seats fell to 33. Ten assembly seats have become vacant due to the election of MPs in Uttar Pradesh. In which the maximum 5 are of SP, 3 of BJP and one of Lok Dal. Jayant Chaudhary and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath are very serious about the Meerapur seat. At the same time, Akhilesh Yadav would like to strengthen his claim for the 2027 assembly elections by winning all the seats of the by-election. Political analysts are of the opinion that if the BJP-RLD alliance gives the assembly ticket to Chandan Chauhan's family, then the chances of victory will be very strong, otherwise this alliance may also lose to the India Alliance. There are long queues in both the camps to become candidates. The basis of selection will be the ability to win. No camp will want to field a candidate from a small constituency.