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Curtain rings down on campaign for 13th general polls

NEW DELHI, Oct 1: The curtain rung down on the campaign today for the 13th general elections for all but seven constituencies.

The hustle and bustle of the campaign for 118 Lok Sabha constituencies in ten states and one UT going to the polls on October 3 ended this evening.

An electorate of 133 million will be eligible to decide the fate of 1,080 candidates including Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee (Lucknow), Congress president Sonia Gandhi (Amethi), BSP vice-president Mayawati (Akbarpur-Res), JD (United) president Sharad Yadav and RJD president Laloo Prasad Yadav (Madhepura) and former Union Minister Santosh Mohan Deb of the Congress (Silchar).

The fifth phase of the 13th general elections will cover all the 42 constituencies in West Bengal, 31 in UP, 12 in Bihar, 13 in Assam, one in Andhra Pradesh, two in Arunachal Pradesh, two in Madhya Pradesh, 11 in Orissa, one in Sikkim, two in Tripura and one in the Lakshadweep.

Polling will also be held on October 3 for the 32-member Sikkim Assembly, 60-member Arunachal Pradesh Assembly, seven Assembly segments in Andhra Pradesh and five in Karnataka. Arunachal Chief Minister Mukut Mithi and three other Congress nominees have already been declared elected unopposed to the 60-member house. In Uttar Pradesh, the fate of 462 candidates will be decided by 3,77,80,363 voters, who may use their franchise in about 45,000 polling stations in 27 districts of the state.

Besides, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee from Lucknow, former Prime Minister Chandrashekhar Ballia , Congress president Sonia Gandhi Amethi , Bahujan Samaj Party vice president Mayawati Akbarpur-Res , former ministers Beni Prasad Verma Kaiserganj and Arif Mohammad Khan Bahraich and Akbar Ahamd Dumpy Azamgarh are among the prominent candidates in the fray.

Out of 31 Lok Sabha seats in the third phase, the Bhartiya Janata Party had 15 in 1998 elections and Samajwadi Party had won nine. The BSP had won from four while the Samata Party and the Samajwadi Janata Party had share of two and one.

Raebareli is another seat where two former ministers Arun Nehru and Capt Satish Sharma are locked in direct fight.

The 31 constiteuncies which are going to polls in the third phase are Sitapur, Misrikh Res , Lucknow, Mohanlalgan J Res , Amethi, Sultanpur, Aizabad, Barabanki, Akbarpur Res , Kaiserganj, Bahraich, Balrampur, Gonda, Basti Res , Doomariaganj, Khalilabad, Bansgaon Res , Gorakhpur, Maharajganj, Padrauna, Deoria, Salempur, Ballia, Ghosi, Azamgarh, Lalganj Res , Macchlishahr, Jaunpur, Saidpur Res and Ghazipur.

The Electronic Voting Machines which made their debut in the state will be used in only Lucknow parliamentary constiteuncy in the last phase while these were used in Varanasi, Allahabad, Agra and Kanpur in the first phase.

It was a comparatively low key campaign for the flood affected twelve constituencies in the last phase of election in Bihar.

More than 14 million voters are eligible to exercise their franchise in over 19,000 polling booths out of which more than 60 per cent has been identified as sensitive or hyper-sensitive. Altogether 98 candidates are in the fray.

The Election Commission has postponed polling to October 28 in four Lok Sabha constituencies of Purnia, Bhagalpur,Rajmahal(ST) and Khagaria in the state following inundation of polling stations in those constituencies. Polling in two Assembly segments under Kathihar Lok Sabha seat will also be held on October 28 in view of the flood situation.

Prominent candidates in the fray include high profile Janata Dal (United) president Sharad Yadav and Rashtriya Janata Dal supremo Laloo Prasad Yadav(both Madhepura), former Union Minister Digvijay Singh( Banka), Mohammad Taslimuddin( Kishanganj),Mr Devendra Prasad Yadav (Jhanjharpur), Bihar Peoples Party chief Anand Mohan( Sheohar), Nationalist Congress Party general secretary Tariq Anwar( Katihar) and younger brother of former Union Minister Ramvilas Paswan, Ramchandra Paswan(Rosera).

The contituencies going to the polls are Sitamarhi, Deohar, Madhubani, Jhanjharpur, Rosera(SC),Samastipur,Saharsa,Madhepura, Araria(SC), Kishanganj, Katihar and Banka.

Of them seven constituencies-= Sheohar, Madhubani, Jhanjharpur, Saharsa, Madhepura, Kishanganj and Banka— have been identified as the super sensitive by the Election Commission for various reasons.

Katihar constituency has the highest number of fourteen candidates while Saharsa has the lowest of five candidates.

In the 1998 elections, of the twelve parliamentary sets, seven won by the Rashtriya Janata Dal, two by Congress and one each by BJP,Samata Party and the now defunct Rashtriya Janata Party.

Campaigning for the third phase in the state was affected due to inclement weather. The State Government has made foolproof arrangements for ensuring free and fair polls in the third phase by deploying sufficient numbers of central paramilitary forces in all the booths of the sensitive constituencies. The Election Commission has taken stringent measures following killing of at least 55 people,including more than 20 security personnel,in the two phase of elections in the state covering 38 constituencies.

Campaigning in the third phase was marginally subdued compared to the previous two phases of polling in the state. Union Ministers Lal Krishna Advani,Pramod Mahajan, Umabharti,cine stars Shatrughan Sinha and Vinod Khanna crisscrossed the constituencies of the BJP candidates. The Rashtriya Janata Dal, however, banked upon the popularity of its president Laloo Prasad Yadav whose electoral fate would also be decided in the third phase of the polls.

The Congress’ campaign was on the low key and its candidates had to content with the electioneering by the state leaders.

State Election Office sources said that more than 14 million electorate would exercise their franchise in over 19,000 polling stations to decided the fate of 98 candidates in the fray.

Sources said all possible steps have been taken to hold the third phase polling in the state in a free, fair and impartial manner in the view of poll related violence in the first and second phases in the state held on September 18 and September 25.

Official sources said besides para military forces, district police home guards and retired army personnel would be deployed to ensure peacefull polling in the state. Shoot at sight orders have been issued in the vulnerable areas to deal with miscreants who would try to create disturbances, the sources said.

They were confident that the polling in the third phase would be completed peacefully and in a free and fair manner.

The Bharatiya Janata Party and the Janata Dal (United) have demanded appointment of central observers in all the six Assembly segments under the Madhepura constituency where two political stalwarts- former Chief Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav and Janata Dal (United) president Sharad Yadav are pitted against each other.

They said a free and fair poll in this constituency was not possible without the presence of central observers.

Amid fear and apprehension the campaigning in Assam ended today even as the spectre of insurgency related violence continued to loom large in most parts of the state.

The ULFA has killed the BJP candidate Dr Pannalal Oswal and announced boycott but the main battle for the ballots would be confined to the Congress on one side and the BJP-BJD on the other side. About 13 million voters over the entire coastal and southern orissa in eleven of the total 21 Lok Sabha seats in the state are eligible to exercise their franchise in 16,091 polling stations to decide the fate of 60 candidates.

The constituencies are Ayurbhanj(ST), Balesore, Bhadrak(SC), Jajpur(SC), Kendrapada, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, Puri, Bhubaneswar, Aska and Berhampur.

Prominent among those whose fate would be sealed in the ballots on October 3 were Biju Janata Dal president and Union Steel and Mines Minister Naveen Pattnaik(Aska),former Orissa Chief Minister J B Pattnaik’s wife Jayanti Pattnaik(Berhampur),State Panchayat Raj Minister K C Lenka (Cuttack),former cricketeer Ranjib Biswal (Jagatsinghpur).

In Arunachal Pradesh, 6,09,174 voters including 2,89,911 women are eligible to exercise their franchise to elect two representatives to the Lok Sabha and 56 legislators to the State Assembly.

Six candidates three in each constituency are in the fray for two Lok Sabha seats while 168 rpt 168 aspirants are trying their lucks for 56 seats of the sixty member State Assembly.

Four Congress nominees, including State Chief Minister Mukut Mithi from roing have been declared elected to the State Assembly unopposed. Other who declared elected unopposed are—Planning Minister Thupten Tempa, Irrigation and Flood Control Minister T L Rajkumar and former MLA Rajesh Tacho from Tawang, Khonsa East and Anini Assembly constituencies respectively.

Union Minister of State for Tourism Omak Apang is trying to retain Arunachal West Lok Sabha seat for second time as Arunachal Congress (AC) candidate, a partner of National Democratic Alliance (NDA). He is locked in a triangular contest with Jasrbom Gamlin (INC) and Toko Kach of Nationalist Congress Party(NCP).

In Arunachal East Lok Sabha sitting MP Mr Wangcha Rajkumar is trying his luck with the BJP nominee Tapir Gao and newly floated party Ajeva Bharat nominee C K Manpoong.

Campaigning remained low key and dull as voters seemed indifferent. However, different political parties arranged rallies, street corner meetings besides door to door campaign to woe the voters in their favour.

In all 168 aspirants remain in the field for 56 seats of the State Assembly. The ruling Congress is contesting all the seats including four returned unopposed BJP 23, NCP 21, Ajey Bharat Party one, AC 38 and rest 21 are independents.

Some 2,55,253 voters including 1,22752 women are eligible to exercise their franchise for the simultaneous polls to the lone Lok Sabha seat and 32-member Assembly in Sikkim.

Altogether 109 candidates including four for the lone Lok Sabha seat will be in the fray. All the three major political parties in the Himalayan state, including the two regional outfits, the ruling Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) the opposition Sikkim Sangram Parishad (SSP) and the Congress have fielded candiates for both the Assembly and the lone Lok Sabha. While the Communist Party of India (Marxist) is contesting in two Assembly seat.

Prominant candidates in the fray include Chief Minister and SDF chief, Pawan Chamling , who is seeking relection for a fifth consecutive term from home constituency of Damthang in East Sikkim. Former Chief Minister and opposition SSP supremo, Nar Bahadur Bhandari, who is contesting from two seats this time. Mr Bhandari will try his luck from Rhenock in East Sikkim besides seeking relection for a record six-time in-a-row from home constituency of Soreng in West Sikkim.

Former Congress Chief Minister and AICC member Sanchaman Limboo is contesting the Yoksum seat in West Sikkim, from where he lost in 1994. While two-time SSP Lok Sabha member and wife of SSP supremo and party’s working president, Dil Kumari Bhandari is trying her luck from Temi-Tarku in South Sikkim.

Deputy Speaker in the dissolved Lok Sabha P M Sayeed is involved in a four-cornered contest in the poll from the Union Territory of Lakshadweep.

As Congress nominee, Mr Sayeed is contesting to the house for the tenth consecutive term from the same constituency. He is pitted against candidates of the rival Janata DalS—Dr K P Muthu Koya(JD-U) and F K Hussain(JD-S). The fourth in the fray is an independent.

In Hoshangabad and Vidisha Lok Sabha constituencies of Madhya Pradesh where polling had been adjourned twice due to floods. As many as 2325144 electorate, including more than 10.78 lakh women, are eligible to decide the fate of twelve candidates.

An electorate of 17,95,414 including 8,65,641 women would decide the political fortunes of seventeen candidates, of whom twelve candidates contesting for the Tripura west Lok Sabha seat and five for the Tripura East parliamentary constituency, reserved for the tribals. (UNI)

Defence strategy must look beyond present threats: Pant

MUSSOORIE (UP), Oct 1: India’s economic policy should further its defence and foreign policy interests and vice-versa while the country’s defence strategy must look beyond present threats and capabilities, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman K C Pant said here today.

A holistic approach to national security demands that the nation strengthen both its economy and its defences and that defence policy, foreign policy, trade policy and internal security policy - all buttress each other, Pant said.

He was delivering the Sardar Patel Memorial lecture on dimensions of India’s security concerns’ at the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration here.

Pant said the various strands of policy should reinforce each other to maximise the effectiveness of national policies.

India’s economic policy has to further its defence and foreign policy interests and vice-versa, he said.

The biggest lesson of Kargil, he said, is that a unilateral desire for peace is not enough and durable peace can come only if India is strong enough to deter aggression and maintain internal security with requisite capabilities.

Our defence strategy must look beyond present threats and capabilities. In a period of declining defence outlays, India has to wisely spend its resources to shore up its defences. It should be ensured that lack of resources do not affect current military preparedness, research and development and self-reliance in key areas, which has become all the more essential in view of technology denial policies of developed countries, Pant said.

The Planning Commission Deputy Chairman said Indian policy and strategy have to be dynamic and able to adapt to and gain from the emerging world order by exercising the right choices in every situation.

A country of India’s size, with about one-sixth of the world’s population, cannot be a global player if it lacks adequate defences against external aggression, blackmail or interference, Pant said.

Pointing out that some major powers were trying to confine India in a narrow sub-continental power equation with Pakistan, he said because of its size and location, India’s security concerns and interests extend to regions far beyond its immediate neighbourhood.

He said the issue of cross-border terrorism, a major internal security problem before the country, has assumed a new dimension with the direct threat of Jehad’ by Saudi terrorist mastermind Osama Bin Laden.

This requires a different level of preparedness. More and more countries, who are affected by Islamic fundamentalist groups, are likely to coordinate their efforts to combat the growing scourge of global terrorism, Pant said.

Referring to violent activities of left extremists in Andhra Pradesh and Bihar, he said internal security problems cannot always be dealt with as mere law and order problems.

It is necessary to uncover their roots and take remedial measures. National security is intimately linked to poverty alleviation, he said.

Rapid economic development, declining disparities in income and well-being between regions and individuals, curbing population growth, restoring the credibility of the administration and progressing steadily towards equality of opportunity are necessary to combat the maladies of cynicism, social disharmony and despair on which the forces of disorder thrive, Pant said.

India has to rapidly modernise its physical infrastructure, provide a reasonable quality of primary health care and provide at least elementary education to all to develop its human capital, he said.

Another core issue of national security, Pant said, is how India protects and promotes its economic and commercial interests under World Trade Organisation (WTO).

All WTO member countries will soon have to re-adjust their laws relating to trade matters to conform to WTO rules. In the short run, such readjustments could cause economic dislocation and create socio-political unrest, he said.

Food security and energy security were other critical dimensions of national security, Pant said.

The impact of substantial increases on oil prices and, more importantly, on political and economic alignments or frictions, need to be monitored closely and continuously by India with a view to ensure energy security for the country at an affordable price, he said.

India’s future cannot be secure unless various policies and programmes are blended into a harmonious national vision, with each component seeking to strenghthen the other parts, Pant added. (PTI)

People want me to retain surname: Winnie Mandela

THIRUVANANTAHPURAM, Oct 1: Winnie Mandela, estranged wife of South African leader Nelson Mandela, today said she had no plans to drop the Mandela surname as people of South Africa want her to retain that.

I have never thought of dropping the surname as the people of South Africa never allow me to do that. They want me to drop my maiden name, she told a meet-the-press in reply to questions about her relationship with Nelson Mandela.

Asked what led to their separation, she said it was for Nelson Mandela to explain.

I have good relationship with Mandela. But I am not Mandela’s product. I am the product of masses of my country and the product of my enemy, said African National Congress’s Women’s League president who is on a two-day visit of Kerala.

I am fortunate to be part and parcel of our struggle. I took my own route politically, she maintained.

Winnie Mandela said though her people had drawn a lot of inspiration from the non-violent agitation of Mahatma Gandhi, passive resistance alone was not enough in the South African struggle against apartheid.

We would have loved to follow the Mahatma’s policy of peaceful transition. We still consider it as great. But the South African regime we fought was such that peaceful measures alone would’nt have succeeded, she said.

Violence to violence was the only language the enemy understood. In order to have peace you must be prepared for war. Mere talking on the platform was not enough. She fought the enemy ‘physically and politically’, she said.

Winnie Mandela said Mahatma Gandhi was a ‘statesman of statesmen’ who was among the first to recognise women’s struggle in a patriarchal society.

About the criminal charges faced by her in connection with a murder case, she said her innocence had been established by the truth and reconciliation commission. It was a police informer who was responsible for the incident and it was part of a plan to tarnish the image of the ANC, she alleged.

Saying that she was impressed by family values in Indian Society, Winnie Mandela said violence against women, children and domestic violence are the problems back home.

She said the way India had managed democracy without conflict was impressive. How you have managed democracy without conflict. Back home we have problems. A struggle to unite people is still on, she said.

Asked about Indians in South Africa, she said we don’t use the term South African Indians. There is no discrimination between people. The fight is not between the black people but between black people and white people, she said

Justifying multinational investments in her country, she said South African economy was such that it still needed capital investment. You cannot do that by revolutionary slogans alone.

Unemployment was still a big problem and the poor were getting poorer. A lot of levelling still remained to be done. Most of the land was still in posssession of the white landowners, she said. (PTI)

Indo-Pak Diary – I
Kashmiri Pandits are not ordinary citizens

From B L Kak

Intelligence Bureau (IB) cannot be faulted for the choice of operations it had to employ in the Indian capital as part of its unpublished plan to know the truth from two Kashmiri Pandits, one residing in Rohini and the other in Mayur Vihar. These two Pandits had been found in the company of an "important" member of the pro-Pakistan Hizbul Mujahideen in a restaurant in the Connaught Place area.

Happily for the two Pandits, the Hizbul activist, the IB finally found, had a "temporary" business relation with both of them. Hence, no action against them, after it was established that the Hizbul activist had helped them dispose of their land and houses in the Kashmir Valley.

Significantly, no action against the Hizbul activist at the same time. Reason: The IB sleuths were informed about the activist’s interaction with the two Pandits, two days after he flew back to Srinagar. Nonetheless, the two Pandits had to be "requested" after they were questioned for nearly an hour that they should help locate the Hizbul activist.

Kashmiri Pandits, more than one event has proved beyond doubt, are not ordinary persons. Their "pessimism" and problems have been taken note of by different official and non-official agencies in several countries, particularly in the United States of America (USA). Significantly, Pakistan, too, has not been able to write off the community of Pandits.

However, there is a perceptible difference between the thinking of Washington and of Islamabad on the displaced community of Kashmiri Pandits. The United States does not want Kashmiri Pandits to be written off. On the other hand, little sympathy has been noticed vis-à-vis Hindu migrants among official, political, religious and military circles in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).

How many people on this side of the Indo-Pakistan border are aware of the none-too-old sensational development, which culminated in the hectic activity by a group of Islamabad’s representatives in the USA for days together to persuade some vocal American Congressmen not to accord any importance to the "plight" of thousands of Kashmiri Pandits residing in refugee camps after they fled their homes in the Valley about a decade ago ?

Provocation for Islamabad’s representatives, obviously, was the outcome of the unexpected "success" by a US-based Kashmiri Pandit organisation in convincing a large number of Americans that Pakistan’s ISI(Inter-Services Intelligence) had played a key role in bringing about the exodus of at least ninety-seven per cent of Pandits from the Valley of Kashmir in the beginning of 1990. Another organisation of Kashmiri Pandits in Britain has also irritated Islamic fundamentalists by its "success" in prompting Amnesty International to throw up highly critical comments on the "merciless" attacks on human rights of Pandits in Kashmir Valley.

Islamic fundamentalists have not taken well the Government of India’s "moral and material" support to the displaced members of the Pandit community since 1990. According to statistics available with the Union Home Ministry, hundreds of Kashmiri Muslim migrants, too, "continue" to receive monetary help from New Delhi. Significantly, their co-religionists have not opposed Indian aid to them.

Islamic fundamentalists alone are not opposed to New Delhi’s "soft" attitude towards the Kashmiri Hindu migrants. Quite a few members of Delhi’s Hindu-majority bureaucracy have been reported against the flow of Central funds for the Hindu migrants. Their concealed resentment notwithstanding, the Home Minister, Mr LK Advani, and the Finance Minister, Mr Yashwant Sinha, already succeeded in outwitting the anti-Pandit lobby by substantially enhancing the quantum of monthly allowance of each family of the victims of Pakistan-sponsored insurgency in Kashmir.

This, however, has not prevented a section of the Pandit migrants from supporting the BJP’s main rival, the Congress. Since the Congress has already been termed as cash-rich organisation, certain categories of the migrants, both Hindu and Muslim, do not require to be criticised for their views against the BJP and its allies. Views have not be always political; they can be ‘commercially important’ for a particular person at a particular point of time.

If the People’s Conference founder-president, Mr Abdul Gani Lone, and prominent leader of the All-Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC), rendered assistance to some Kashmiri Pandits in selling their immovable properties in the Valley, the move apparently was to ensure that these properties were not nibbled away by the Muslim extremists. Hence, practically speaking, finding fault with those Pandits who were helped by Mr Lone cannot be termed as a positive phenomenon.

Incidentally, one of these Pandits, currently stationed in Jammu, is considered ‘pro-Lone’, although he is secretly feeding the J&K CID with periodic reports, loaded as they are, with anti-APHC accent. All is fair in love and war and in securing pecuniary advantages !

(To be continued)

Patwa having tough time in flood-ravaged Hoshangabad

HOSHANGABAD, Oct 1: Former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Sunderlal Patwa is facing a tough task in this flood-ravaged constituency as he battles a determined Congress and the rain-hit voters’ apathy in his bid for a second entry to the Lok Sabha.

Pitted against first-timer Rajkumar Patel of Congress, BJP vice-president Patwa, is fighting his first election from the constituency where polling has been fixed for October 3 after being put off twice.

The polling was first postponed here from the originally scheduled of September 18 to 28 because of heavy rains and floods.

Patwa has shifted to this BJP bastion from Chhindwara where he was routed by 1.58 lakh votes by Congress stalwart Kamalnath in 1998, a year after scoring an upset win against him in the 1997 by-polls in his first bid for Lok Sabha.

Patwa had hoped to play it safe here in view of BJP’s hold over the seat since 1989 but he is having a tough time not only because of Chief Minister Digvijay Singh’s personal interest but also for his being dubbed as an outsider. Poll observers say a low turnout may spell a doom for his party. In a keen battle of wits in the backdrop of the worst floods in the Narmada since 1973, both the rivals have told their cadres engaged in relief work to shun party flags and symbols in a bid to attain a moral high-ground among voters.

However, sensing that distribution of compensation and relief material may benefit Congress, Patwa is also trying to convince people that State Government was responsible for floods as it had failed to anticipate the yearly scourge.

A spirited campaigning by patel riding a tractor has also struck a favourable chord, particularly among a number of farmers in this predominently rural constituency.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Digvijay Singh has taken upon the job of rebutting Patwa’s charges against his Government and has even blamed the centre for not giving the required aid for flood relief.

Scores of BJP, RSS and Congress cadres from neighbouring areas have descended here while a number of Congress leaders including Kamalnath and Nadhavrao Scindia have also undertaken whirlwind tours of this prestigious constituency.

The seat was first won by BJP in 1989 when its Sartaj Singh drubbed Rameshwar Neekhra of Congress who had won from here in 1980 and 1984. (PTI)

Amethi Constituency
Shoot-at-sight orders against poll offenders

AMETHI, Oct 1: Shoot-at-sight orders have been issued against poll offenders in this high profile Lok Sabha constituency where the fate of Congress President Sonia Gandhi and her BJP rival Sanjay Singh will be sealed in ballot boxes on Sunday.

The administration has geared up to ensure free and fair poll. It will seal all entry-points to this vast constituency, where the administration claims to have made fool-proof arrangements and deployed additional forces, taking their strength to more than double last year’s deployment.

A total of six election observers have been deputed to oversee the poll process in this seat which has been in media glare. There is growing apprehension of poll-related violence, booth-capturing and rigging among the people here who feel such incidents or threats could be witnessed in Amethi and Jagdishpur Assembly segments where they have occurred in the past few years.

Out of 1302 polling booths, 367 have been declared hyper-sensitive and 320 sensitive. The main contesting parties have lodged several complaints of intimidation of their supporters, threatening of voters and minor incidents of attacks and tension.

Amethi, which now has an electorate of 11.1 lakhs, has traditionally been held by the Congress, barring elections in 1977 when Sanjay Gandhi was defeated by Janata Party’s Ravindra Pratap Singh by over 76,000 votes and last year when Raja of Amethi and the present BJP nominee beat former petroleum Minister Capt. Satish Sharma by about 23,000 votes. In 1952 and 1957, this seat was represented by then Information Minister B V Keskar, while in 1962 the Raja of Amethi and Sanjay Singh’s father, Rananjay Singh, won from here. Another prominent Congress leader Vidyadhar Vajpai was elected from here in the 1967 general elections and 1971 midterm poll.

While Sanjay Gandhi was defeated in 1977, he won the 1980 mid-term polls defeating Janata Party’s Ravindra Pratap Singh by over 1.3 lakh votes.

After Sanjay’s accidental death, Rajiv Gandhi contested this seat and became a first-time mp in 1981 bye-elections. He defeated lok Dal’s Sharad Yadav by 2.25 lakh votes.

Rajiv won the seat again in 1984 beating his sister-in-law Maneka Gandhi, who had floated the Rashtriya Sanjay Manch, by a whopping margin of 3.15 lakh. He won again in 1989 defeating Mahatma Gandhi’s grandson and JD rival, Rajmohan Gandhi, by over two lakh votes. BSP leader Kanshi Ram lost his deposit.

Rajiv won this seat in 1991 elections but was killed before he could know the result. In the bye-elections caused by his death, his close friend Capt Satish Sharma defeated BJP rival Madan Mohan Singh by about one lakh votes. (PTI)