Kundarki win: BJP feels it has turned the panna on minority support

The Kundarki assembly constituency stood out among the nine that went to bye-election in Uttar Pradesh recently.

The BJP got the seat, which has 65% Muslim voters, for the first time in 3 decades. Thakur Ramveer Singh won with a margin of 1,45000 votes from the constituency previously held by Samajwadi Party's Zia ur Rahman Barq, who is now the Sambhal MP. Kundarki is part of the Sambhal Lok Sabha constituency.

There were several factors which contributed to the BJP's victory in this Muslim-dominated constituency. In Kundarki, Muslims are divided mainly into three groups: Turks, who claim to be non-converted Muslims; Sheikhzadas, who are converted Muslims and OBC Muslims such as Dafali, Nai, Dhobi, Badhai and Teli.


The Turks, who politically and economically dominate the area, apparently saw their business interest. The Sheikhzadas, who match with the population of Turks, had perhaps the poor political representation in their mind. These two communities seem to have influenced the decision of OBC Muslims, and the BJP bagged votes of all the three groups.

Turks dominate the transport business, as well as own agricultural land and run commercial establishments. Sheikhzadas, who also own lands, are mainly associated with farming.

Political representatives at the ground level were in full support of the BJP candidate to ensure development, as they feared poor development may cost them when they face elections in future.

It took more than three decades for BJP candidate Thakur to build his political credibility among the Muslim voters here. Muslims played active roles as panna pramukhs, booth presidents, booth palaks and the convenor of the shakti kendras during the BJP's preparations for the by-poll.

Thakur has been working hard since 2007 to woo Muslim voters. He entertains both Muslim and Hindu voters at his residence to hear their problems, and distributes sewing machines, buffaloes and blankets to the poor people of both communities. He enjoys full support of chief minister Yogi Adityanath in this area.

Thakur remains available for us 24 hours, said a former gram pradhan of Sihorabaje, a village in Moradabad's Mundha Pande block. "He contested the assembly elections in 2007, 2012 and 2017 and Muslim votes for him increased gradually. So, he was never untouchable for Muslims in Kundarki."

At Virpur village, Haji Mehboob said he had sought help from Thakur for the issuance of his passport for the Haj pilgrimage. "He took personal interest. I got my passport," he said.

Farukh of Saijana village said Muslim voters have realised that there is no chance of development by sending an MLA from the opposition camp.

All BJP's 15 panna pramukhs in Asadpur village are Muslims, said gram pradhan Mujeebul. "Our village has a high number of truck owners and drivers. We campaigned in favour of Thakur in different villages. Thakur maintains personal connect with us," he said.