BJP fields Dara Singh Chauhan for legislative council by-election

The BJP has declared former minister Dara Singh Chauhan as the candidate for the vacant Legislative Council seat. He will file his nomination on the 18th. Dara Singh Chauhan, hailing from the backward caste of Purvanchal, joined the BJP in July after leaving the Samajwadi Party. He was a SP legislator from Ghosi.

The BJP fielded him in the by-election for the vacant Ghosi Assembly seat due to his resignation, but he lost. Now, the BJP is planning to make him an MLC, and after becoming an MLC, there are preparations to include him in the possible cabinet expansion after the Ram Mandir Pran Pratishtha ceremony.

The uncontested election for becoming an MLC is confirmed; voting will take place on the 30th
The election for an empty seat in the Legislative Council may be scheduled for January 30, but it is widely believed that former minister Dara Singh Chauhan is set to be elected uncontested as an MLC. The BJP declared Dara Singh as its candidate for the Legislative Council by-election on Tuesday. There is also speculation that, considering the BJP’s majority in the Legislative Assembly, no other party may field a candidate for this election. Following Dara’s election as an MLC, it is also expected that he will be appointed as a minister in the probable cabinet expansion after the Pran Pratishtha program.
Dara was a member of the previous Yogi government and held a ministerial position. Before the 2022 assembly elections, Dara switched from the BJP to the Samajwadi Party. He contested and won as a legislator from the Ghosi constituency in the Mau district. In July, he returned to the BJP but resigned from the Ghosi assembly seat. However, he faced defeat in the subsequent by-election on his own assembly seat. Since then, various speculations have surrounded him. Recently, he met with Union Home Minister Amit Shah. With the resignation of former Deputy CM Dr. Dinesh Sharma from the Legislative Council, it is now being considered that Dara might become an MLC from that seat.

Dara has stayed in every party
Dara Singh Chauhan, who once served as the national president of the BJP’s OBC Morcha, began his political journey with the Congress. Dara became a Rajya Sabha MP for the first time in 1996 with the BSP. Within four years, he joined the Samajwadi Party (SP) and resigned from the BSP. He was also sent to the Rajya Sabha by the SP. In 2006, Dara’s Rajya Sabha term ended, and in 2007, the BSP came to power in UP. Dara returned to the BSP and became an MP for the party in the Ghosi Lok Sabha constituency in 2009. Mayawati appointed him as the party’s leader in the Lok Sabha. In 2014, amid the Modi wave, Dara couldn’t retain his seat in Ghosi. In 2015, he joined the BJP. In the 2017 assembly elections, the BJP fielded him from Mau. After winning, he became the Minister of Forest and Environment in Yogi’s cabinet. Just before the elections, he was considered as a potential candidate by the SP, and he switched parties. When the BJP formed the government, he returned to the BJP.

The caste of Dara is influential
The BJP has intensified its efforts to consolidate the extremely backward caste votes in Purvanchal. Dara faced defeat in this region in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in Azamgarh, Lalgunj, Ghosi, Ghazipur, and Jaunpur. The party’s performance was also poor in the assembly elections in districts corresponding to these parliamentary constituencies. Consequently, the party is working on bringing influential faces from this region’s effective community into its fold. Since Dara also belongs to the extremely backward Loniya Chauhan community, which has a presence in various districts of Purvanchal, the party is keen on uniting prominent leaders from this community. In the past, leaders like Fagu Singh Chauhan, who hailed from this community, played influential roles in BJP but have now taken a back seat in active politics. Currently, the BJP lacks a strong leader from this community. If this community’s support aids the BJP in areas like Azamgarh, Lalgunj, Ghosi, Ghazipur, and Jaunpur during elections in the Gazipur, Mau, Azamgarh, Ballia, Deoria, and Basti districts, it could be particularly beneficial for the party.