Saharanpur Lok Sabha 2019: Will Imran Masood avenge 2014 defeat to BJP?

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Saharanpur Lok Sabha 2019: Will Imran Masood avenge 2014 defeat to BJP?

Imran Masood has been fielded by the Congress party once again for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections

Monday March 25, 2019 12:26 PM, Zohair M Safwan, ummid.com

Saharanpur (Uttar Pradesh): Imran Masood was booked and arrested in 2014 after he "threatened" to "chop Narendra Modi into pieces" . He is back in news again. But, this time for somewhat similar slur hurled against him by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

Launching the BJP's campaign for 2019 Lok Sabha Election, Yogi Adityanath while addressing a rally in Saharanpur Sunday courted a controversy by linking Imran Masood to JeM Chief Masood Azhar.

"Saharanpur also has the son-in-law of Azhar Masood, who speaks in his language", Adityanath, himself known for hate speeches and who has several criminal cases againt him, said.

Imran Masood is an influential leader of Saharanpur. He has been fielded by the Congress party once again for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Saharanpur Lok Sabha 2014 Result

Imran Masood was the Congress candidare in the 2014 Parliamentary elections. He had however lost the seat to Raghav Lakhanpal of Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) by a mere 65,000 votes.

According to the 2014 Final Election Result, Imran Masood bagged a total of 4,07,909 votes. But in the end his votes fell short by 65,090 votes of 4,72,999 polled by Raghav Lakhanpal.

The 2014 Result Analysis 0f 2014 Lok Sabha elections does not end here. A quick look at the votes polled by other candidates contesting from the seat is replica of the same old story - Muslim and secular votes get divided while pro-BJP votes are strongly consolidated.

Imran Masood could have easily won the 2014 Lok Sabha elections from Saharanpur - a constituency which has around 41% of Muslims, had there not been Jagdish Singh Rana of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) who polled 2,35,033 votes and Shazaan Masood of Samajwadi Party (SP) who got 52,765 votes.

Saharanpur Lok Sabha 2019

While Congress has fielded Imran Masood from Saharanpur once again, BJP has also given its party ticket to sitting MP Raghav Lakhanpal. Haji Fazalur Rahman, BSP leader and the runner up in the mayoral polls from Saharanpur city in 2017, will contest from Saharanpur as the SP-BSP joint candidate.

Muslim votes are at the risk of dividing between Imran Masood and Haji Fazalur Rahman in 2019 elections as well. Imran Masood had also lost the 2017 UP Assembyl Elections to BJP's Dharam Singh Saini by over 4,000 votes from Nakur assembly seat.

However, having learned a lesson or two from his past defeats in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections and 2017 UP Assembly elections, Imran Masood is not taking any chance this time. He has also resolved his differences with Rashhed Masood - his uncle and 05 time MP from Saharanpur.

But, in the end, it will be up to the people of the constituency and the way they will vote this time which will decide the result. Polling in Saharanpur, which comprises of five assembly segments - Behat, Saharanpur Nagar, Saharanpur, Deoband and Rampur Maniharan will be held on April 11, 2019.

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