Shamli assembly constituency has Tejendra Singh Nirwal of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) taking on Ahmad Hameed of the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), Congress has fielded Mohmmad Ayub Jang whereas the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) have fielded Bijendra and Persann Kumar respectively in the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections this year.
The BJP had won the Shamli assembly constituency in Uttar Pradesh in 2017, with Tejendra Nirwal Saini beating nearest rival Pankaj Kumar Malik of the Congress (INC) by a comfortable margin of 29,720 votes.
Shamli is one of five assembly constituencies in the Kairana Loksabha Constituency in western Uttar Pradesh. Four out of these were won by the BJP in the last elections, with one, Kairana, being won by the Samajwadi Party.
Also read: Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa, Manipur elections from February 10, counting on March 10
Shamli became a new constituency in 2008 as a result of delimitation. It was earlier a part of the Kairana assembly constituency.
In 2012, the first election after Shamli came into being as an assembly seat was won by Pankaj Kumar Malik, who had narrowly defeated the Samajwadi Party’s Virendra Singh by 3,741 votes.
This part of western UP, dominated by Jat and Muslim voters, was one of the epicentres of the 2013 communal riots. The powerful Jats were seen to shift allegiance from Ajit Singh’s Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) to the BJP. With the BJP consolidating other non-Muslim votes.
51 of the BJP’s 312 seats in 2017 – an absolute majority in the 403-seat assembly – came from western UP as the party swept the region and the state to set up a government under saffron-robed priest Yogi Adityanath as Chief Minister.
Also read: Uttar Pradesh elections 2022: Full list of voting dates for all constituencies
The BJP ousted the Samajwadi Party of Akhilesh Yadav, Yogi’s predecessor as UP Chief Minister. This year, the strongest challenge to the BJP is seen to come from Akhilesh Yadav, who wants the state’s top spot back.
The Samajwadi Party, which had won the 2012 UP assembly elections by winning 224 seats, could get only 47 seats in 2017. It stood second after Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party, coming in at number 3 with a dismal 19 seats and the Congress settling for only seven seats.
Shamli will vote in the first phase of the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections on February 10, 2022. Votes will be counted on March 10. UP votes in seven phases; 53 constituencies in 11 districts will vote in the first phase.
Quick facts about the Shamli Assembly seat
Name of the assembly constituency, district: Shamli Assembly constituency, Shamli district
Polling date: February 10, 2022
Phase: 1
Sitting MLA, party: Tejendra Nirwal, BJP
Winning candidate, party in 2017: Tejendra Nirwal, BJP
Runner-up name, party 2017: Pankaj Kumar Malik, Congress
Winning margin in 2017: 29720
Top 3 candidates 2017 : Tejendra Nirwa (BJP)l, Pankaj Kumar Malik (Congress), Bijendra Singh (RLD)
Top 3 candidates 2012: Pankaj Kumar Malik (Congress), Virendra Singh (SP), Balbir Singh (BSP)
Lok Sabha constituency: Kairana Lok Sabha constituency
