“Dadhi, topi ka apmaan nahi sahega Musalmaan (Muslims will not tolerate disrespect to the beard and cap)”, “Sau rupaye mein banayenge MLA (will elect a MLA with `100)” are some of the slogans, which are raising the temperature in the minority-dominated Bahraich area, where seven Assembly seats will go to polls on Wednesday.
Close to Nepal, Bahraich is known for famed Sayed Salar Masood Ghazi Dargah, seen as a symbol of Hindu-Muslim unity, with scores of Hindus and Muslims coming here to pay their homage to the Sufi saint.
Bahraich is also known for fine artisans of glassworks and khansaamas (cooks), who have spread to all the metropolitan cities.
In Qaisarganj Assembly seat, BSP’s sitting MLA Mohammed Salim is contesting as an Independent after he was apparently denied a ticket for his Bin Laden-like look. “This election is for the honour of the beard,” said Atiq-ur-Rahman, younger brother of Mr Salim. With Muslims and Thakurs dominant here, the contest is seen between SP’s Ramtej Yadav, an ex-MLA, and Congress’ Sayus Ali. However, the Ulema Council here is seen putting up a spirited fight with youth taking out bike rallies with slogans in favour of candidate Maulana Waliulla-Mazahari.
In neighbouring Bahraich Assembly seat, SP MLA Dr Waqar Ali Shah is seeking re-election but is faced with a strong fight from Peace Party’s Haji Zubair and BSP’s Mohammed Mush-arraf. In Materna Assembly seat, the SP (Yasser Shah) and BJP (Padam Singh Chouhan) seek to win the seat, while Congress has fielded Ali Akbar, alias Pappu, whose father was a BSP MLA but was denied a ticket. The BJP has pinned hope on the strong Punjabi and Thakur vote base here amid chances of a split in the Muslim vote. In the Balha reserved seat, Congress MP Kamal Kishore’s prestige is at stake with his wife Poonam Kishore in the fray, who is being challenged by SP’s Sabir Ahmed Valmiki and BJP’s Savitri Bai Pule. BSP’s Kiran Bharati is fighting the outsider tag here. In Nanpara constituency, BSP sitting MLA Waris Ali Khan is pitted against Congress’ Dilip Kumar Verma, who is hoping to wrest the seat, which has a sizeable Kurmi vote base.
In Mahsi, it appears to be a straight fight between sitting BJP MLA Sureshwar Singh and SP’s Dr Rajesh Tiwari, while the area is Brahmin-dominated. In Payadpur Assembly seat, the SP (Arunveer Singh) and Congress (Mukesh Srivastava) are being seen in a straight fight; the area has a sizeable Brahmin and Thakur vote base.