SP replaces Meerut name, fields ‘giant killer’ against BJP’s ‘Ram’ Arun Govil

While Pradhan unsuccessfully contested the Sardhana Assembly seat several times starting 2012, in the 2022 Assembly polls, he had defeated firebrand BJP leader Sangeet Som by a margin of over 18,000 votes.

Expressing his gratitude to SP president Akhilesh Yadav for giving the Meerut ticket to him, Pradhan said, “We will continue our fight for the poor, youth and farmers. I was born and brought up in Meerut, a place which has been my karmabhoomi since my student days.”

A member of the Gurjar community, Pradhan (41) has been associated with the SP since he graduated from Chaudhary Charan Singh University. He was previously president of the party’s Chatra Sabha (student wing). Pradhan’s wife Seema was elected Sardhana zilla parishad chief in 2015 and last year unsuccessfully contested the Meerut mayoral polls with the SP’s backing.

The SP’s decision to field Bhanu Singh initially from the seat had stumped party leaders. A Supreme Court lawyer and a resident of Sahibabad, near Delhi, Singh had contested the 2017 Assembly polls from Sikandrabad seat as the candidate of the Rashtriya Janhit Sangharsh Party, an outfit he floated, and polled just over 1,000 votes.

Singh is a lawyer in the Supreme Court and has been vocal against the use of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), which he claims are not foolproof. He was also a part of the prayers held following the death of eight farmers, who were allegedly mowed down by former Union minister Ajay Mishra’s son Ashish in Lakhimpur Kheri.

“We were surprised that the party fielded Singh, who is not only an outsider but enjoys no mass support in his home turf. His candidature had triggered resentment among workers. The Meerut seat would have been a one-sided contest had Singh not been replaced with Pradhan, who is an active leader,” former SP Meerut chief Rajpal Singh said.

The Meerut Lok Sabha seat has an estimated 35% Muslim voters while Jats and Gujjars, which fall in the OBC category, are around 11% and 5% respectively. Scheduled Castes (SCs) form a significant chunk of the electorate, with around 19% of voters.

What might prove a problem for Pradhan is that Sardhana, despite being geographically located in Meerut district, is a part of the Muzaffarnagar Lok Sabha constituency.

SP leaders also said that despite Pradhan’s poll losses till 2022, he remained in the good books of Akhilesh ever since he organised a massive rally in Meerut’s Falawada attended by the party chief.

The BJP is banking on not just Govil’s appeal as the actor who played Ram in the widely popular Ramayana, but also that he is a local. Vineet Sharda, state chief of the BJP’s trade cell, said the SP would pose the party no challenge. “The (Meerut Lok Sabha) seat has been with the party since 2009, when sitting MP Rajendra Agarwal won it for the first time and has retained it thrice since. Be it Pradhan or Bhanu Singh, there is no match for Govil, who grew up in Meerut and studied here till his graduation.”