Muzaffarnagar assembly constituency once again has Kapil Dev Agarwal from the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) taking on Samajwadi Party-Rashtriya Lok Dal alliances’ Saurabh Swarup, Subodh Sharma of the Congress in this year’s Uttar Pradesh assembly elections.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had won the Muzaffarnagar assembly constituency in Uttar Pradesh in 2017 with its candidate Kapil Dev Agarwal winning by a margin of 10,704 votes against his nearest rival, Gaurav Swarup Bansal of the Samajwadi Party.
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A year before that, in February 2016, Kapil Dev Agarwal had won the Muzaffarnagar seat in a bye-election after the seat fell vacant due the death of sitting MLA Chitranjan Swarup of the Samajwadi Party (SP). Through its win in the bye-election, the BJP wrested the seat back from the Samajwadi Party and then won it again in the assembly elections in the following year. Both times Agarwal defeated Gaurav Bansal of the SP.
In 2012, the BJP had won only one of the five seats, Sardhana. Two were won by the Samajwadi Party and one each by the BSP and regional strongman Ajit Singh’s Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD).
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Kapil Dev Agarwal is a minister in Chief Minister Yogi Adityanth’s government in Uttar Pradesh.
Muzaffarnagar is one of five assembly segments in the Muzaffarnagar Lok Sabha Constituency. All five were won by the BJP in 2017, in a deeply polarised election in the area after deadly communal riots in 2013.
Muzaffarnagar assembly constituency will vote on February 10, 2022, in the first of seven phases ofthe UP elections. Results will be out on March 10, along with those for four other state elections.
The BJP hopes to return to power with a second term for Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. The Samajwadi Party is seen as its closest rival, with its leader Akhilesh Yadav attempting to win back the state.
Quick facts about the Muzaffarnagar Assembly seat
Name of the assembly constituency, district: Muzaffarnagar, Muzaffarnagar district
Polling date: February 10, 2022
Phase: 1
Sitting MLA, party: Kapil Dev Agarwal, BJP
Winning candidate, party in 2017: Kapil Dev Agarwal, BJP
Runner up name, party in 2017: Gaurav Swarup Bansal, SP
Winning margin in 2017: 11253
Top 3 candidates 2017: Kapil Dev Agarwal (BJP), Gaurav Swarup Bansal (SP), Rakesh Kumar Sharma (BSP)
Top 3 candidates 2012: Chitranjan Swaroop (SP), Ashok Kansal (BJP), Arvind Raj Sharma (BSP)
Lok Sabha constituency: Muzaffarnagar
