The brouhaha over elections has jolted the Bhadohi parliamentary constituency in Uttar Pradesh out of its slumber.

Barely 50km from Varanasi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s constituency, Bhadohi remains isolated and backward.

Amid elections, BJP and Congress workers can be seen campaigning in Bhadohi even at night but the Trinamool Congress’s lone candidate in Uttar Pradesh, Lalitesh Pati Tripathi, seems to be making quite a splash.

In caste-ridden Bhadohi, Tripathi is all set to give a tough fight to the BJP’s Vinod Kumar Bind and the BSP’s Harishankar Singh Chauhan.

While flyovers were built and roads widened in Varanasi, Bhadohi remained untouched by development. The roads here are dilapidated and the quality of drinking water is poor. Students here move away to Varanasi or Allahabad for better education.

After Modi became the Prime Minister in 2014, the airport, railway station and bus stand were renovated in Varanasi. However, Bhadohi’s demand for a bus stand building with facilities for passengers was ignored even though the BJP’s Virendra Singh Mast and Ramesh Chand Bind won from the constituency in 2014 and 2019, respectively.

“This was the reason why I left the BJP and joined the Samajwadi Party. The people used to ask me what kind of an MP I am that despite my hard work and personal connect with the people, I was not able to bring desired developmental projects here,” said Ramesh Chand, the SP nominee from adjoining Mirzapur.

Chand accompanies Tripathi to many of his public meetings to show that the Brahmins and Mallahs (Bind) are together. This is the easiest prescription to victory in Bhadohi, which has 3.15 lakh Brahmin and 2.90 lakh Mallah voters. With 2.50 lakh dedicated Muslim voters of the SP, Tripathi appears to have an edge.

“There is only one problem with Tripathi. The voters here don’t know the election symbol of Trinamool,” a local journalist told The Telegraph.

SP president Akhilesh Yadav told a rally for Tripathi two days ago: “You must reach the polling booth on cycle but remember two sticks and six leaves (joda ghash phool) represent you here. Lalitesh Pati is our candidate.”

Ridiculing Akhilesh and Trinamool at a rally in Bhadohi on Wednesday, Modi said: “Did you think why Mamata dubs those from UP and Bihar living in Bengal as outsiders?”

In his public meetings on Thursday, Lalitesh clarified: “The people of UP and Bihar live comfortably in Bengal.”

Bhadohi votes on May 25