Since 1989, only Muslims and Yadavs have won the Azamgarh Lok Sabha seat.
Azamgarh is one of the most closely watched battles in the state with Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav pitted against Bhojpuri star Dinesh Lal Yadav 'Nirahua.' The constituency went to polls in the sixth phase of Lok Sabha elections on May 12.
Election Results 2019: Follow live updates here
9:37 IST Friday, 24 May 2019: Akhilesh Yadav (Samajwadi Party) - 621578 (60.4%), Dinesh Lal Yadav Nirahua - 361704 (35.15%)
14:52 IST Thursday, 23 May 2019: Akhilesh Yadav (SP) - 231903 (62.45%), Dinesh Lal Yadav Nirahua (BJP) - 124864 (33.63%)
13:03 IST Thursday, 23 May 2019: Akhilesh Yadav- 137356 (64.84%), Dinesh Lal Yadav Nirahua - 65948 (31.17%)
11:55 IST Thursday, 23 May 2019: Akhilesh Yadav- 78547 (67.29%), Dinesh Lal Yadav Nirahua 33524 (28.72%)
10:21 IST Thursday, 23 May 2019: Akhilesh Yadav- 20319, Dinesh Lal Yadav Nirahua- 12322
Constituency profile
One of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh, Azamgarh conjures up contrasting images of Batla House protests and Kaifi Azmi's poetry, SP supremo appears to be sitting pretty. While Nirahua is drawing huge crowds at his roadshows and meetings after he entered the contest as the BJP candidate, in this SP bastion, currently held by party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav, his son Akhilesh Yadav has a clear advantage.
Ramakant Yadav, a local mafia who has had close to 30 criminal cases in his career, has been all major political parties including the SP, BSP and the BJP. After being denied ticket by the party, reportedly due to differences with UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, has now joined the Congress and is contesting from Bhadohi Lok Sabha seat.
The constituency has a substantial population of Yadavs, Jatavs and Muslims -- the three communities which form the crux of the Samajwadi Party-Bahujan Samaj Party alliance in the politically crucial state. Since 1989, only Muslims and Yadavs have won the Azamgarh Lok Sabha seat.
Ram Krishna Yadav won the seat in 1989 as BSP candidate and Chandrajit Yadav of the Janata Dal won in in 1991. Ramakant Yadav won the seat as an SP candidate in 1996 and 1999. He won again as a BSP candidate in 2004 and on a BJP ticket in 2009. Akbar Ahmed Dumpy won it as a BSP candidate in 1998 and in a 2008 by-election.
In the 2014 general election, despite the "Modi wave", Mulayam Singh Yadav succeeded in winning the seat and defeated BJP's Ramakant Yadav by 63,000 votes. The senior Yadav scored 35.43% votes, Ramakant Yadav got 28.85% and BSP candidate Shah Alam got 27.75%.
Azamgarh has over 17 lakh voters. Estimates say that about four lakh of them are Yadavs, three lakh Muslims and around 2.75 lakh Dalits.
The Lok Sabha constituency has five Assembly segments -- Gopalpur, Sagri, Mubarakpur, Azamgarh and Mehnagar.
Lok Sabha Elections 2019: State Profile
In the last parliamentary elections in 2014, the BJP had won 71 seats in the state, securing 42.63 per cent of the votes. BJP ally Apna Dal bagged two more. The Samajwadi Party had won five seats with a vote share of 22.35 per cent. The BSP did not win any seat but secured 19.77 per cent votes. The Congress registered wins on two UP seats in 2014, bagging 7.53 per cent of the votes.
UP is facing a triangular battle between the BJP, the Congress and BSP-SP-RLD alliance. Under the alliance's seat-sharing formula, the Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) is contesting on 38 Lok Sabha seats of the total 80 seats, Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party on 37 seats and the Chaudhary Ajit Singh's Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) on three seats. The alliance has left two for Congress' Sonia Gandhi (Rae Bareli) and Rahul Gandhi (Amethi).
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