Gorakhpur: BJP’s Ravi Kishan Wins Seat Where SP-BSP Tested Their Caste Math Before Forming An Alliance 

Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) Ravi Kishan has won in Gorakhpur, the seat where the Samajwadi Party (SP)-Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) gathbandhan tested its caste math in the 2018 by-poll before announcing an alliance for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The Bhojpuri super star polled over 7 lakh or 60 per cent of the vote in the constituency, reports have said. His closest challenger, Rambhual Nishad of the gathbandhan, got nearly 4 lakh or 35 per cent of the vote.

The home turf of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and the seat of the Gorakhnath Peeth, was considered the safest bet for the BJP’s in UP’s Poorvanchal. The BJP had this seat for nearly three decades, with Adityanath — also Mahant of the Gorakhnath Math — winning from here five times in a row between 1998 and 2014.

But this changed in 2018, after Adityanath became chief minister. In the ensuing by-poll, BJP’s Upendra Shukla had lost to the SP’s Praveen Nishad, whom the BSP also supported, by almost 20,000 votes.

At the core of this victory for the SP-BSP in the by-poll was the caste arithmetic, which not only factored in Yadavs, Muslims and Dalits, but also Nishads, the dominant fishermen and boatsmen caste in this part of UP.

Of the 19.5 lakh voters in Gorakhpur, Nishads number 4.5 lakh or 23 per cent. Muslims and Dalits each number 3.5 lakh or 18 per cent, while two lakh Yadavs form 10 per cent of the voters. The seat also has two lakh Saithwars, listed under Other Backward Castes (OBCs). Upper caste voters in Gorakhpur include 1.5 lakh Brahmins and almost 1 lakh Vaishya and Bhumihars. Clearly, Nishads have the numbers to influence the result of the close fight on this seat.

After the by-poll, the caste equations became complex. Following his victory on SP ticket in the by-election, Praveen Nishad has joined the BJP, which has fielded him from the neighbouring Sant Kabir Nagar seat. The NISHAD party, which is headed by his father Sanjay Nishad, has also switched loyalties to the BJP.