Dinesh Nigam ‘Tyagi’
Ujjain Lok Sabha Seat Ground Report: Ujjain, the city of Mahakal, is world famous. State Chief Minister Dr. Mohan Yadav comes from here. In this context, everyone’s eyes are on the election of Ujjain Lok Sabha seat. BJP MP Anil Firoziya is again in the fray while Congress has fielded its MLA Mahesh Parmar from Tarana Assembly seat. Both have previously faced each other in the Tarana Assembly elections. Firoziya has also lost to Parmar. Even in the mayor’s election, Parmar had given a good fight to the BJP. The promotion of both is gaining momentum. Firoziya had won the last election by a margin of about 4.4 lakh votes, but this time there is some dissatisfaction towards her. Chief Minister Dr. Yadav faces the challenge of winning the elections by a bigger margin than before.
That’s why BJP-Congress candidates are strong
A tough contest is being witnessed between the two giants of BJP and Congress in Ujjain. These are BJP MP Anil Firozia and Congress MLA Mahesh Parmar. Both have been face to face earlier also in Tarana assembly seat. Anil Firoziya was earlier the MLA from Tarana but for the second time he was defeated by Mahesh Parmar of Congress. After this, Mahesh became MLA from Tarana for the second consecutive time and is now contesting the Lok Sabha elections from Congress. Firoziya has a strong political background. Earlier his father was an MLA. After this, his family member Rekha Firoziya remained MLA. Anil himself was earlier an MLA and is now an MP. Mahesh Parmar’s influence can be gauged from the fact that earlier he had defeated Anil Firoziya in the assembly elections and now he is MLA for the second time. He has also contested the election of Ujjain Mayor strongly. In this respect both the candidates are strong.
Firoziya was not the Chief Minister’s choice
When the name of Anil Firoziya was not declared in the first list from Ujjain, there was speculation that his ticket would be canceled. There was discussion that Chief Minister Dr. Mohan Yadav did not want him. However, his name was announced later. Mahesh Parmar had defeated Firoziya in the assembly. He has been MLA for two consecutive terms and had given a good fight to BJP in the mayor’s election also. Therefore, Congress also considered Mahesh Parmar suitable for the Lok Sabha elections. A tough competition is being seen between the two in Ujjain. Chief Minister Dr. Yadav comes here regularly, many other stalwarts of BJP have come here for campaigning.
Elections being held on national and regional issues
Ujjain Lok Sabha seat has become high profile due to it being the home constituency of the Chief Minister. Therefore, the elections here are being fought only on national and regional issues. BJP has put forward the face of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Being reminded of Ram Mandir and removal of Section 370 from Kashmir. It is also being propagated that now it is the turn of Mathura and Kashi. This can be possible only with Modi and BJP. The works being done by the Central and State Government are being publicized. On the other hand, Congress also has no less issues. It is being told how after coming to power, Congress started waiving off the loans of farmers, which was put to a halt when BJP came to power. The 5 justice and 24 guarantees included in the manifesto are being promoted along with the promise of giving Rs 1 lakh per year to women. The failure of BJP governments on inflation and unemployment is being counted. The prices of gas cylinder and petrol and diesel are being reminded. It is also being said that the BJP government is destroying democracy by using the investigating agencies as its agents.
Won more assembly seats, lost Lok Sabha
Compared to 2018, Congress has suffered a big loss in the assembly elections held in 2023, while BJP has made gains. In 2018, Congress had won 5 out of 8 seats in the Lok Sabha constituency while BJP had to be content with only 3, but in 2023, BJP won 6 out of 8 seats. Congress had to be satisfied with just 2 seats. Of these, Congress won the Mahidpur seat by a margin of just 290 votes. Whereas the victory margin in Tarana was 2183 votes. In contrast, BJP’s victory margin in 6 seats was 1 lakh 79 thousand 624 votes. Bridging this huge gap is a big challenge before the Congress. It is worth noting that when Congress had won 5 out of 8 assembly seats in 2018, 4 months after that, in the Lok Sabha elections held in 2019, BJP had won by a margin of quarter to 4 lakh votes. Now it has an lead in the Assembly also and there is Ram wave in favor of BJP.
The political mood of the seat was in favor of BJP
The geographical area of Ujjain Lok Sabha seat is largely in Ujjain district because all the 7 seats of the district come under this Lok Sabha constituency. But this seat also touches Ratlam district. Alot, an assembly seat of the district, is also under Ujjain. BJP is in control of Alot. Ujjain district assembly seats are part of Nagda-Khachrod, Mahidpur, Tarana, Ghatia, Ujjain North, Ujjain South and Badnagar Lok Sabha constituencies. Mahidpur and Tarana in Ujjain district are with Congress while the remaining five seats Nagda-Khachrod, Ghatiya, Ujjain North, Ujjain South and Badnagar are in the hands of BJP. As far as the political mood of Ujjain seat is concerned, out of the 8 elections held since 1991, Congress’s Premchand Guddu has won only once in 2009 by a margin of about 16 thousand votes. The remaining 7 elections went to BJP. Satyanarayan Jatiya won 5 consecutive Lok Sabha elections from 1991 to 2004 but after the defeat in 2004, he did not get another chance. In 2014, BJP’s Chintamani Malviya and in 2019, Anil Firoziya of the same party won the election.
Caste equations have no impact
Ujjain Lok Sabha constituency is reserved for the Scheduled Caste category. Since the candidates of BJP and Congress belong to the same class, there is no mobilization on caste basis here. Ujjain is the city of Mahakal, that is why people do not give importance to caste politics. Anyway, caste equations have more importance in assembly elections and due to the large Lok Sabha constituency, these equations become ineffective. The seat has the highest number of voters from Dalit class. The inclination of Bairava and Balai society plays a major role in victory and defeat. Backward classes and Brahmins are in large numbers. Brahmins are inclined towards BJP while the backward classes seem divided. Mahesh Parmar of Congress has good contacts among some backward castes. He can get benefit from it. In 2009, Congress had won only by taking the votes of backward classes. Most of the other sections are in favor of BJP.
