RUDAULI ASSEMBLY SEAT

DISTRICT CRITICAL STATS

-         District Faizabad ranks 40th in terms of population in the state.

-         The percentage share of urban population in the district is 13.8 percent as against 22.3 percent of the population in urban areas of the state.

-         Faizabad district has population density of 1,056 persons per sq.km. which is more than the state average 829 persons per sq. km.

-         Faizabad district ranks 11th in terms of sex ratio (962) which is higher than the state average of 912 females per thousand males.

-         Faizabad district ranks 38th in literacy with 68.7 percent which is higher than state average 67.7 percent.

CANDIDATES:

-         RAM CHANDRA YADAV: BJP

-         ANAND SEN: SP

-         ABBAS ALI JAIDI ALIAS RUSHDI: BSP

-         MOHAMMAD SHER AFGAN: AIMIM

-         DAYANAND SHUKLA: CONGRESS

ASSEMBLY POLLS WINNERS

	WINNER	RUNNER-UP	3RD	4TH
2019 (LS LEADS)	BJP (48.60%)	SP (42.98%)	CONG (4.96%)	LD   (0.85%)
2017	BJP (43.42%)	SP (28.39%)	BSP (22.72%)	NOTA (1.07%)
2014 (LS LEADS)	BJP (42.75%)	SP   (21.08%)	CONG (18.56%)	BSP (13.11%)
2012	BJP (32.66%)	SP (32.16%)	BSP (18.34%)	CONG (7.25%)

SOCIAL COMPOSITION

Is a Muslim dominated seat.

-         MUSLIMS: 60,000

-         YADAV: 48,000

-         PASI: 48,000

-         LODHI: 26,000

-         DALIT: 22,000

-         BRAHMIN: 21,000

-         THAKUR: 17,000

-         VAISHYA: 16,000

-         KURMI: 10,000

-         NISHAD: 8,000

-         KORI: 5,000

-         OTHERS: 18,000

POLITICAL DYNAMICS

-         In 1974, Ram Sevak Yadav of the Bhartiya Kranti Dal of Charan Singh won from the seat followed by Pradeep Kumar Yadav of the Janata Party in 1977. In 1980 Pradeep Yadav won again, this time on Janata Party (SR) ticket.

-         In 1985 Margoob Ahmad Khan of the Congress reclaimed the seat albeit briefly to lose it again to Pradeep Kumar Yadav, the Janata Dal candidate, again in 1989. In 1991, BJP’s Ram Dev Acharya won from the seat. In 1993, SP opened its tally here with Ishtiyak Ahmad winning the seat. In 1996 BJP’s Ram Dev Acharya won again.

-         In 2002 and 2007, SP’s Abbas Ali Zaidi urf Rushdi Miyan won from here. He had defeated Ashok Kumar Singh of the BSP in 2007. In 2012, despite SP wave, Ram Chandra Yadav of the BJP won from this Muslim dominated seat. He defeated the sitting SP MLA Rushdi Miyan by a very thin margin of 941 votes. Abdul Kalam of the BSP came third with 38,661 votes while Congress candidate TC Patel came distant fifth getting just 2746 votes.

-         In 2017, BSP’s Ram Chandra Yadav won again from here by defeating the same SP (Cong) candidate Rushdi Miyan. However, this time around the margin of victory 31,259 votes. Firoz Khan @ Gabbar of BSP came third with 47,257 votes.

-         This time around Ram Chandra Yadav is back in the arena in a hope to score a hat-trick. SP has fielded Anand Sen. SP’s two-term runner-up from the seat Rushdi Miyan is contesting on BSP ticket while Mohammad Sher Afghan is MIM candidate. Congress has fielded a Brahmin Dayanand Shukla from the seat.

-         Muslim-dominated Rudauli constituency in Ayodhya is a dichotomy between the rock-solid allegiance of Yadavs to Samajwadi Party and their poll verdicts. Here, Yadavs have spurred BJP to victory for a decade, spurning Akhilesh Yadav's candidates to offset a trend elsewhere in the state. Another constituency in Ayodhya, which has defied the myth of SP's Yadav consolidation is Bikapur. Akhilesh’s bigger challenge, however, would be to wean away Yadavs from saffron clutch.

-         With SP fielding a Yadav, it will be interesting to see way the community will swing. Anand Sen is a three-time MLA, having won Milkipur once and Bikapur twice. He has been with BSP too. A distraught Rushdi switched camp to BSP and filed his nomination from Rudauli earlier this month, hoping to garner around 2 lakh Muslim and Dalit votes.

-         The seat is famous for its Hindu-Muslim bhaichara.

MAJOR ISSUES IN THIS SEAT

-         The Rudauli town is very congested, roads are narrow often resulting in traffic jams.

-         The sewage system in the town is in bad shape and give up during the monsoon season.

-         No serious attempts have been made to put Rudauli’s Kamakhya Bhawani temple on tourism map despite being close to Ayodhya. Successive MPs, MLAs have made promises on this but nothing has moved yet.

-         The local demand for a bus depot and women’s hospital too remains unfulfilled.

-         Price rise and unemployment is also talking issue in the seat.

-         In rural part of the seat stray cattle remains a big issue.

CANDIDATES:

RAM CHANDRA YADAV, BJP: Two-term MLA from the seat. Late Mitra Sen Yadav was his political mentor. Mitra Sen got him first shot at MLA when he got SP ticket to contest bypoll from Milkipur seat in 1998. Ram Chandra won the poll and became an MLA. However, in 2002 he rebelled against his mentor Mitra Sen but was again elected MLA in a bypoll on SP ticket. In 2012, he joined the BJP and won his third and fourth poll on BJP ticket in 2012 and 2017. Yadav’s competitor Anand Sen is son of his late mentor Mitra Sen. Yadav and his supporters count flyover connecting town with NH 27 his biggest achievement.

ANAND SEN (YADAV), SP: Son of former political heavyweight Mitra Sen Yadav. Mitra Sen passed away in 2015. He was many terms MLA and two term MP and was associated with CPM, SP and BSP later. Anand had lost 2017 Assembly poll on SP ticket from neighbouring Bikapur seat to BJP candidate.

ABBAS ALI JAIDI ALIAS RUSHDI (MIYAN), BSP: Two-term MLA from the seat (2002, 2007) was runner-up in 2012 and 2017. Had served as minister in SP government. Hails from a very celebrated Nawab family of Narauli village. His grandfather Nabban Ali was well respected in the area. Even Rushdi Miyan is known for his Nawabi gestures.

DAYANAND SHUKLA, CONGRESS: Is a new comer in politics and a Brahmin.