The Bharatiya Janata Party is in a tough fight for the Chillupar seat, which, it says, is a battle to free the eastern Uttar Pradesh region from the sway of local bahubali (strongman) Hari Shankar Tiwari and his family. Sources said the party feels it is necessary to win the constituency in the ongoing assembly elections to end the “mafia raj” in the region.

Chillupar is one of the few seats that the BJP has been unable to win since Independence. The party was defeated here even in 2017 despite sweeping most of UP.

However, the BJP this time is going all out to wrest the seat from the control of Tiwari and his family.

“We have managed to contain the mafias in the region except for the Tiwaris. The family was raided once but it was made into a case of political vendetta against them. It is vital to defeat them from the seat to completely uproot the mafia culture in the region,” said a source in the BJP.

The BJP has fielded Rajesh Tripathi who had contested against Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP)’s Vinay Shankar Tiwari — Hari Shankar Tiwari’s son — and lost by a margin of approximately 3,200 votes in 2017. Tripathi had won the seat twice in 2007 and 2012 for the BSP.

In focus

BJP sources say Chillupar is a “target” seat that the party needs to bag as it has never won here despite the likes of late Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee campaigning.

Sources in the party said that the constituency is in the focus of all top leaders because of its history and its impact on the region. Many senior leaders will monitor booths here, they said.

“Jan Sangh founder Deen Dayal Upadhyay to BJP’s Atal Bihari Vajpayee all have campaigned on this seat in some form or the other, yet the BJP has never won it. This time it is necessary to defeat Samajwadi Party candidate Vinay Tiwari to end mafia raj in the region,” added a source.

Speaking to News18.com, Tripathi, who has been campaigning fiercely, said he is hopeful of wresting this seat from the Tiwaris this time.

“This is a seat that is the epitome of mafia culture. People are fed up with the mafia raj (mafia rule). The beneficiaries of state and central schemes will turn around the fate of the seat,” said Tripathi.

The caste arithmetic

The seat has significant Brahmin and Dalit populations, in almost equal numbers, said sources. And that is why it’s been considered a Bahujan Samaj Party stronghold. With the BSP contesting the seat equally fiercely, and Vinay Shankar Tiwari fighting on a Samajwadi Party ticket this time, the battle has become three-cornered.

Unrest in SP gives hope to BJP

Tripathi believes that many in the SP are upset as the Tiwaris were in the BSP.

“Those from the SP who witnessed atrocities at the hands of Tiwari when he was in the BSP are angry with him contesting from the SP,” he said.

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