UP 2022: Barabanki Polls Highlight Narrow Margins and Shifts
Uttar Pradesh’s Barabanki district proved to be a battleground during the 2022 assembly elections. Across six assembly segments, voters cast their ballots in highly contested races, producing both narrow wins and decisive landslides.
The Kursi constituency saw the BJP secure a precarious victory. Sankar Pratap Verma defeated SP’s Rakesh Kumar Verma by a mere 217 votes. Verma totaled 1,18,720 votes compared to 1,18,503 for his SP rival. BSP’s Meeta Gautam polled 35,561 votes, and AIMIM’s Arun Kumar secured 8,541 votes.
Ramnagar experienced a similar electrifying atmosphere. SP candidate Farid Mahajid Kidwai won with 98,799 votes. He beat BJP’s Sharad Kumar Awasthi by just 261 votes. Awasthi’s tally stood at 98,538 votes, reflecting the exceedingly tight race between the two major factions.
Barabanki town recorded a comfortable SP triumph. Dharmraj Singh Yadav collected 1,25,500 votes to win. He defeated BJP’s Rajkumari Maurya by 35,050 votes, who garnered 90,450 votes. Vivek Singh Verma of the BSP finished third with 42,506 votes, while Congress’s Usha Singh took fourth with 4,560 votes.
Zaidpur delivered another hair-raising finish. Gaurav Kumar of the SP emerged victorious with 1,13,558 votes. BJP’s Ambresh Rawat lost by 2,982 votes, accumulating 1,10,576 votes. Congress’s Tanuj Puniya placed third with 28,689 votes, and BSP’s Ritesh Kumar Singh took fourth with 18,400 votes.
Daribabad showed a clear preference for the BJP. Satish Chandra Sharma won decisively with 1,28,219 votes. SP’s Arvind Kumar Singh Gop trailed by 32,402 votes, securing 95,817 votes. BSP’s Jagprasad Rawat earned 28,361 votes for third place, while independent Hammad Sher Afghan received 9,378 votes.
Haidergarh wrapped up the district’s electoral narrative. BJP’s Dinesh Rawat polled 1,17,133 votes to defeat SP’s Ram Magan. The field featured BSP’s Shri Chandra, independent Sanjay Gautam, and Congress’s Nirmala Chaudhary. The seat previously returned BJP’s Baij Nath Rawat in the 2017 polls.