Not a dream run for Rajnath

The BJP president Singh is locked in a stiff triangular contest with Congress and BSP candidates

Noor Mohammad Ghaziabad Hardnews

Electoral calculations of the BJP seem to have gone awry in the Ghaziabad parliamentary constituency. One of the primary reasons: contrary to expectations, Poorvanchali migrants doesn't seem to have voted in favour of BJP president Rajnath Singh en bloc. A survey by Hardnews into the voting trend in the Khoda Colony, a huge unauthorised colony of migrants from Bihar and east UP, shows that Congress candidate Surendra Prakash Goyal seems to have polled a fair share of votes here. This might well upset the BJP president's electoral applecart. Singh was banking on his east UP roots to rally Poorvanchali voters behind him.

The going was already tough for Singh as he is locked in a stiff triangular contest with Congress and BSP candidates. Goyal was able to rally Muslim and Gujjar voters (together accounting for about 35 per cent of the electorate in this constituency) behind him. BSP's Amarpal Sharma, on the other hand, was riding on his party's Dalit support base (accounting for about 14 per cent votes). Besides, Sharma is also expected to have lured away BJP's Brahmin voters.

What made things more difficult for the BJP was its former MP from Ghaziabad, Ramesh Tomar, who is now a Congress candidate from the adjoining Gautam Buddha Nagar. Tomar, a four-time BJP MP, left the party after he was denied a ticket and joined the Congress. He is also expected to queer the pitch for Singh.

Meanwhile, in the newly-created Gautam Buddh Nagar Lok Sabha seat, which went to polls on May 7, BJP candidate Dr Mahesh Sharma seems to have an edge in the urban pockets of NOIDA and Greater NOIDA. However, the going will still be tough for Sharma as the BSP holds sway in rural areas like Dadri, Jewar, Sikandrabad and Khurja.