Rampur Lok Sabha Election 2024: With just a week remaining for campaigning in Rampur, slated to go to polls in the first phase of general elections, the Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Azam Khan is reshaping the dynamics in this constituency. For the first time, Rampur will not have his presence either as a voter, contestant or as a campaigner.

Rampur, boasting a significant Muslim population of 50.5 per cent, anticipates a fiercely contested election. For the first time, SP has fielded a candidate not endorsed by Azam Khan. Maulana Mohibullah Nadvi, the Imam of Parliament Street Mosque in Delhi, is chosen by SP, despite Azam Khan's preference for his associate, Asim Raza.

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Nadvi and Asim Raza filed their nomination papers on the same day but the papers of Asim Raza were cancelled during scrutiny and Nadvi continues to be the official SP candidate. Meanwhile, the BJP has renominated sitting MP Ghanshyam Lodhi, while the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has put forward Zeeshan Khan as its contender. Upset at the developments in his own party, Azam Khan is poised to play a significant role in the elections, albeit from behind bars.

In Rampur, SP cadres have distanced themselves from Maulana Nadvi's campaign, considering him as an outsider. If sources cited by IANS are to be believed, Azam Khan has decided to extend his support to BSP's Zeeshan Khan and his supporters. "Nadvi has not even found time to visit the party office here. He is also soft towards those forces that targeted Azam Khan and sent him and his family to jail. How can we support such a person?" a local SP leader Virendra Goyal said.

Nadvi who faces a tough challenge from his party and also BJP and BSP, remains optimistic about receiving support from both SP leaders and Azam Khan."SP leaders will back me and I am hopeful of securing Azam Khan's support too," he said as quoted by IANS.

The outcome of the Rampur election will now depend on the number of votes that Azam Khan manages to transfer to BSP. Meanwhile, the situation is advantageous for BJP with Muslim votes being divided between SP and BSP. "BJP has brought the focus back on the neglected poor among the community that had previously remained sidelined. We will repeat our victory in Rampur because the era of Azam Khan is over," said Javed Malik, BJP's western UP minority wing chief.

(With Agency Inputs)