Deoria Lok Sabha Elections: Long Shot for Congress, BJP Candidate Ahead in the Race

The Deoria Lok Sabha constituency is one of 80 parliamentary constituencies in Uttar Pradesh. It is a general category seat and comprises parts of Deoria and Kushinagar districts. Five Assembly segments fall under the Deoria Lok Sabha seat — Tamkuhi Raj, Fazilnagar, Deoria, Pathardeva and Rampur Karkhana — all of which are currently held by the BJP.

Polling Date — June 1, 2024; Phase 7

Sitting MP — Ramapati Ram Tripathi (BJP)

Candidates – Shashank Mani Tripathi (BJP), Akhilesh Pratap Singh (Congress)

Political Dynamics

• Though the BSP has also fielded a candidate in Deoria, the main fight in the constituency is between the BJP and the SP-Congress Mahagathbandhan, with the former said to have better shot at victory.
• BJP Switches Out Sitting MP: The saffron party this time has dropped sitting MP Ramapati Ram Tripathi in Deoria, fielding Shashank Mani Tripathi from the seat instead.
• Shashank Mani Tripathi is the third-generation member of his family to enter politics. An IIT-Delhi graduate, he is contesting his maiden election this time.
• Shashank’s father, Prakash Mani Tripathi, was a Lok Sabha member from Deoria in 1996. He was also an ex-army officer. His grandfather, Surat Narain Mani Tripathi, was an IAS officer and also a member of the Vidhan Parishad.
• The BJP is said to have denied the ticket to sitting MP Ramapati Tripathi after much thought in keeping with strong demands from local cadre that the Deoria ticket be given to a local leader this time. Ramapati Tripathi does not hail from Deoria, and his 2019 candidature is said to have been a consolation price for the party denying his son the ticket from Sant Kabir Nagar.
• Shashank Tripathi has been active in the area for years and had also campaigned heavily in favour of BJP candidates in Assembly elections.
• As the founder of Jagriti Enterprises Center Purvanchal, he is working on entrepreneurship development along with the party in 12 districts of Purvanchal.
• Training programs are frequently conducted by his organization on how to create employment for people in villages.
• It is said that the RSS was pleased with his work in the area and the BJP eventually rewarded him with a ticket.
• On the campaign trail, Shashank Tripathi is said to be holding 20-25 meeting a day and is mostly seeking votes in the name of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his welfare schemes.
• Literal Poll Run: Earlier this month, a video was widely shared online showing Shashank Mani Tripathi sprinting towards the nomination centre as the deadline to file nominations was about to close. He reportedly made it just in time.
• Congress Long Shot: As per the seat-sharing agreement between INDIA bloc partners Samajwadi Party and Congress, the Deoria seat is being contested by the grand old party which last won in Deoria in 1984. In contrast, the SP won the seat last in 2004.
• When the seat-sharing details were announced, a section of UP Congress had complained that the party lost out on winnable seats in the seat-sharing talk and ended up with five to six seats where it has not won in decades, including Deoria.
• The Congress has entrusted the tough task of wresting Deoria from the BJP to its national spokesperson and popular face on television debates Akhilesh Pratap Singh.
• A Congress member for close to 40 years now, Singh started off with the Youth Congress where he rose through the ranks to become vice-president. In 1995, he joined the big leagues and was made the spokesperson for Uttar Pradesh Congress as well as head of its media wing.
• He contested the 2012 Assembly elections from Rudrapur seat and won. The same year, he was made a national-level media panellist.
• Akhilesh Singh, however, lost the 2017 Assembly elections. Despite the loss, he was made national spokesperson of the party and started representing the Congress on television debates.
• One of the biggest factors working against Akhilesh Singh is rift within UP Congress ranks.
• Rift in Ranks: Former Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Ajay Kumar Lallu, who had resigned following the party’s drubbing in Assembly elections, was said to be lobbying for the ticket that ultimately went to Akhilesh Singh.
• As a result, a sulking Ajay Kumar Lallu has not been supporting or campaigning for the Mahagathbandhan candidate.
• Caste Factors: The two politically dominant castes in the Deoria constituency are Brahmins and Thakurs, with the former outnumbering the latter.
• While BJP candidate Shashank Mani Tripathi is from the Brahmin community, Congress’s Akhilesh Pratap Singh is a Thakur.
• The Thakur community, as expected is siding with Akhilesh Pratap Singh. A recent public meeting held by senior BJP leader and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh was recently boycotted by the Thakur community.

Key Constituency Issues

• District Hospital: Deoria has been awaiting a district hospital for long. In 2022, the government had instructed the DM to zero in on land for the construction of the district hospital building, but after a few visits to possible land options, no progress was made.
• The present district hospital of Deoria is under the affiliation of Maharishi Devraha Baba Medical College. With footfall at the medical college higher that what a district hospital would get, locals have been demanding the setting up of a proper hospital.
• As per media reports, 10-acre land is required for the project.
• Ring Road: Deoria locals and commuters have also been asking for a ring road for many years. Locals say candidates promise a ring road project for the constituency, but no progress has been made in the last few years on it.
• Agnipath/Agniveer Scheme: The Agniveer military recruitment scheme has become a major election issue in Deoria, with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi as well as the party’s Deoria candidate promising it would be scrapped once it’s in power.
• In June 2022, the Narendra Modi government had rolled out the Agnipath recruitment scheme for short-term induction of personnel to bring down the age profile of the three services.
• It provides for recruiting youth between the age bracket of 17-and-half years and 21 for four years with a provision to retain 25% of them for 15 more years.
• Protests had erupted against the scheme’s implementation in several states in 2022, including Uttar Pradesh, which sends scores of youths to the armed forces.
• In March this year, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had said the government is “open to change” in the Agniveer recruitment scheme if necessary.
• Unemployment: Locals, especially youth, in Deoria have been demanding development and investment in the area for job creation.
• Families say eligible youth are forced to migrate to cities for job opportunities, leaving behind an ageing population.
• Crime: Though locals are appreciative of the crackdown on crime by the Yogi Adityanath government, recent cases have unsettled the locals.
• Earlier this month, the UP Special Task Force had arrested two people, including a resident of Deoria, for making fake documents and collecting huge amounts of money from aspirants claiming to arrange admission to medical courses, including MBBS.
• The death of a man in police custody allegedly after being beaten by a Sub-Inspector has also led to tensions in the Satrao Village in Deoria district. Police have booked the SI for murder.
• In the beginning of May 13 people were booked, of which 10 have been arrested, for the murder of a priest of Hanuman Mandir in Tendua Choubey village under the Bhalwani police station in Deoria district. According to an IANS report, the trigger was an altercation between the 65-year-old priest and some youth from the Paswan community over loud DJ music.
• Deoria is one of the 75 districts of Uttar Pradesh where Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has announced setting up of cyber police stations.
• Spurious liquor rackets are also abundant in Deoria with the hooch being smuggled to the dry neighbouring state of Bihar.
• Purvanchal Statehood: The demand for a separate state of Purvanchal in the Bhojpuri region of eastern Uttar Pradesh has been a long-pending one. Pro-statehood activist groups want Varanasi to be the capital of the proposed state and Bhojpuri as the official language.
• The demand for splitting Uttar Pradesh into Harit Pradesh (western UP), Poorvanchal (eastern UP), Bundelkhand and Awadh is raked up from time to time, and come elections, it gains momentum.
• The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), headed by Mayawati, was once a strong supporter of the demand when the Samajwadi Party was in power, on development and law and order issues, maintaining that smaller states could be governed better.
• As the chief minister, Mayawati had first raised the issue in 2007 and her government had even adopted a resolution in the Assembly seeking division of the state into four parts.
• Both the BJP and the Congress had supported the resolution brought by Mayawati in the 403-member House.
• But, as Mayawati lost power in 2012 after winning just 80 seats against 206 seats in 2007, her demand lost steam.
• The issue may not be a burning one in the 2024 elections in Deoria, but there are pockets where it’s an emotive topic.

Voter Demographics

• SC — 14.2%
• ST — 3.1%
• Buddhist — 0.08%
• Christian — 0.13%
• Jain — 0.01%
• Muslim — 13.9%
• Sikh — 0.03%

Major Infra Projects in Deoria

• Deoria Bypass: In June last year, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari laid the foundation stone five National Highway projects worth Rs 6,215 crore in Deoria region.
• Gadkari had then said constructing the 22-km, 4-lane bypass at a cost of Rs 1,750 crores will benefit backward areas of Deoria and Gorakhpur. He assured it would improve connectivity with Bihar as well.
• Solar Power Plant: In July 2019, Amplus Energy Solutions had announced investment of Rs 500 crore for its second open access solar project of 100MW in Deoria.
• The Deoria plant was touted to generate 700 jobs and supply green energy to many industries located in the state.
• As per reports, a 40 MW solar plant part of the project in Deoria will start power generation next month. It has been set up at a cost of Rs 250 crore.
• Gorakhpur–Siliguri Expressway: The Gorakhpur–Siliguri Expressway will pass through the Deoria district of Uttar Pradesh.
• The four-lane, access-controlled highway will run parallel to National Highway 27 (NH-27) and connect Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh to Siliguri in West Bengal.
• It will also pass through the Kushinagar district of Uttar Pradesh, and nine districts of Bihar, before entering West Bengal.
• The expressway will be 519.58km-long, covering 84.3 km in Uttar Pradesh.
• The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) proposed the expressway in 2021 as part of Bharatmala Pariyojana (BMP) Phase 2, and land acquisition began in May 2022.
• The project was originally expected to be completed by 2028–29, but as of August 2023, the completion date has been moved up to 2025.
• Once completed, the expressway is expected to reduce travel time between Gorakhpur and Siliguri from around 15 hours to about six hours.
• Upgrading Deoria Railway Station: In August 2023, PM Narendra Modi announced allocation of Rs 61 crore to upgrade the Deoria Sadar Railway Station.
• The plan involves increasing passenger facilities at Deoria Sadar Railway Station connecting rail passengers of neighbouring Kushinagar district as well as Gopalganj and Siwan districts in Bihar.
• Under the Amrit Bharat Scheme, the station is getting a 12-metre-wide foot overbridge, three lifts and two escalators.

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