1 month ago
The conviction of former Member of Parliament (MP) from Jaunpur and east Uttar Pradesh (UP) strongman Dhananjay Singh in a case of kidnapping and extortion has not only dashed his plans of contesting the Lok Sabha polls from the area as an independent candidate but will impact the caste equations in the constituency where the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has fielded Maharashtra’s former junior home minister Kripashankar Singh.
UP’s political analysts called Dhananjay’s conviction a big advantage for the BJP. A local court in Jaunpur on Wednesday sentenced the former MP to seven years of imprisonment besides a penalty of Rs 50,000 in a case of kidnapping a UP Jal Nigam project manager.
The beginning
“Jitega Jaunpur, Jitenge hum, Aapka Dhananjay, Jaunpur Lok Sabha-73 (Jaunpur will win, so will we, your own Dhananjay, Jaunpur Lok Sabha seat)”–reads a poster shared by Dhannajay Singh himself on his wall on social media site X. Dhananjay’s post, dated March 2, 2024, further states that “Sathiyon Taiyar Rahiye, Lakshya Bas Ek-Lok Sabha 73 Jaunpur (friends, be prepared, the target is only one, Jaunpur Lok Sabha seat). Singh’s post, which got more than 6 lakh views and over 7,000 likes was posted on the day the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) released its first list of candidates from UP’s 51 Lok Sabha seats, including the name of former Congress leader Kripa Shankar Singh for Jaunpur. Dhananjay’s post, however, reflected strong electoral aspirations.
But four days later, an MP/MLA court convicted Dhananjay and his aide Santosh Vikram Singh in the kidnapping case, and, on Wednesday, the court awarded him a seven-year jail sentence. Unless a higher court stays the conviction, Dhananjay’s poll plans for Jaunpur are effectively dashed, a development that should benefit the BJP. “I am being framed in a fake case. Will challenge the lower court’s order in the higher court,” said Dhananjay Singh soon after he was arrested following the MP/MLA court’s order. Under the Representation of the People Act, the sentence makes him ineligible to contest the election.
Jaunpur constituency in focus
Dhananjay, who held the position of national general secretary in Janata Dal (United), recently announced his plans for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls and was in talks with the INDIA bloc. His political career blossomed in 2002 when he registered a thumping win during the UP assembly elections from the Rari assembly seat in Jaunpur as an independent candidate. He retained the seat in 2007 as a JD(U) candidate. In 2009, he won as an MP on a BSP ticket and got his father Raj Deo to contest and win Malhani, which he vacated. In 2014, Dhananjay contested the Lok Sabha polls as an independent candidate and secured around 64,000 votes, but lost to the BJP. He, however, continued to contest, first in the assembly polls in 2017 on a Nishad Party ticket, then in the 2020 assembly bypolls and the 2022 assembly polls from the Malhani seat as a JD(U), but failed to win.
In the 2022 assembly polls, Dhananjay got an impressive 68,838 votes after he contested as an independent candidate from Malhani in Jaunpur. In 2023, his wife Srikala D Singh became the zila panchayat chairman, but BJP leaders said that the party didn’t contest the seat.
After Dhananjay Singh’s conviction, political analysts say winning the Jaunpur Lok Sabha seat should be a cakewalk for the BJP. “Dhananajay Singh has worked exceptionally hard in Jaunpur and has a sizable political clout that supports him whenever he contests. The fact was proved many times when Singh won even while contesting as an independent candidate. In the 2022 assembly polls, Dhananjay, who contested as an independent candidate from Jaunpur’s Malhani seat, bagged around 69,000 votes. This was despite his eventual loss to Samajwadi Party candidate Lucky Yadav. Dhananjay showcased his clout by pushing the BJP and the BSP below him. It shows his strong voter base in the constituency,” said Shashikant Pandey, head of the political science department at Bhimrao Ambedkar University, Lucknow.
After Dhananjay’s conviction, he said, the election is going to Modi vs Rest, and the candidate as an individual hardly matters, which would benefit Kripashankar Singh. “Jaunpur will aid BJP’s 400 paar (over 400) seat goal nationally,” Kripashankar had said after being named the party pick on the seat where the Samajwadi Party is yet to name its candidate.
