IF THE Uttar Pradesh Assembly bypoll results indicated that the BJP Lok Sabha election setback in the state may have been temporary, the sweetest victory for the party was in Kundarki. In this constituency where around 63% of the population is Muslim, the BJP’s Thakur Ramveer Singh defeated 11 rivals of the minority community to win by a huge margin of 1.44 lakh votes.

It was the first time a Hindu candidate won Kundarki in 31 years, with the last such winner being Chandra Vijay Singh, also of the BJP, in 1993.

The division of the Muslim vote between 11 candidates – including of the Samajwadi Party (SP), BSP, Aazad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram), AIMIM and a ‘Samrat Mihir Bhoj Samaj Party’, plus Independents – was one factor in Singh’s win. Two Independents, Rizwan Hussain and Rizwan Ali, even shared the same name as SP candidate and three-time sitting MLA Mohammad Rizwan.

While there are around 2.5 lakh members of the Muslim community in Kundarki, around 15,000 are Yadavs and 45,000 people belong to the Scheduled Castes. The Muslim-Yadav numbers make Kundarki a natural constituency for the SP.

Incidentally, the Sambhal mosque row broke out a day before polling in Kundarki on November 20. Within hours of a petition coming before it, a court ordered a survey of a centuries-old mosque in Sambhal – the parliamentary constituency covers Kundarki – putting the area on edge.

Come polling day, Kundarki saw the heaviest turnout of the nine Assembly seats that saw by-elections, at 57.7%.

At the same time, the Kundarki result reflects Ramveer Singh’s own connect with the people of Kundarki, and the BJP’s successful campaign to break traditional voting patterns in the constituency through a focused, strategic approach. Singh, 52, belongs to a well-to-do farmer family of Moradabad, the district under which Kundarki falls, and runs a law college and owns a locking tile factory.

Singh said that in the campaign, the BJP focused entirely on local issues, avoiding discussion of state or national matters, and told the public how their MLA Rizwan was “misleading” them. “It took time for me to understand the core issues of the Muslim community, but we addressed them effectively,” said Singh, adding that BJP leaders also stood by Muslims who had been “harassed” by Rizwan with “false cases”.

Another crucial aspect of the BJP campaign was conveying to the people how “government schemes were benefiting them”, Singh said, adding that “the PDA (Pichhda, Dalit and Alpasankhyak) communities” who were the SP’s stated voter plank had been among the biggest gainers of these programmes. “We convinced the people that the PDA should be with us,” said Singh.

It was Singh’s fourth attempt at winning Kundarki, and his first-ever Assembly win. BJP leaders point out that despite successive losses, Singh continued his grassroot efforts in the constituency. During these elections, he even donned a head gear resembling the skull cap and a kaffiyeh around his shoulders.

In the 2022 Assembly elections, the SP’s Zia Ur Rehman Barq had won from Kundarki by 40,000 votes; Mohd Rizwan was then the BSP candidate and finished third. Barq’s election as Sambhal MP necessitated this bypoll.

Before 2022, Singh and Rizwan had faced off against each other in Kundarki twice earlier, in 2017 and 2012, with Rizwan winning by 20,000 and 17,000 votes respectively.

In 2007, Singh had contested from Moradabad Rural seat on the BJP ticket, and lost to the SP’s Usmanul Haq.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Singh said his three decades of grassroots work and strong ties with the people, including the Muslim community, paid off.

“My family and associates have a long history in local elections. My elder brother was a village pradhan for 35 years, I became a zila panchayat member around 25 years ago, and now my wife is a zila panchayat member. The Block Pramukh has always been from my family or our associates. Since many elected representatives in the region are from the Muslim community, I have also maintained close relationships with them,” Singh said.

He claimed that this time, the Muslim support for him was obvious. “Some chose not to vote, while others supported me at the polls,” said Singh.

He also credited his win to the “blessings” of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and the support of the BJP, mentioning that the CM had held a campaign meeting for him.

Stunned by the Kundarki defeat, the SP has alleged fake voting and rigging on polling day, with Rizwan writing to the Election Commission demanding a re-election.

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