Sons of political veterans and a real estate dealer — Allahabad is locked in a tight three-cornered contest.

The BJP has fielded former Uttar Pradesh Speaker and former Bihar governor Kesari Nath Tripathi’s son Niraj Tripathi from the constituency. The Samajwadi Party (SP) has nominated former Allahabad MP Rewati Raman Singh’s son Ujjwal Raman Singh and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has fielded Ramesh Patel, a real estate trader.

The BJP has deployed deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya and parliamentary affairs minister Suresh Kumar Khanna to manage the campaign of Niraj, a less aggressive player compared to his party counterparts.

Though Kesari Nath is no more, Niraj has been seeking votes keeping his father and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s image in front and upfront. Ujjwal on the other hand reminds the voters of the bond his father Rewati had with the people. Patel believes that his caste (Kurmi) clubbed with the traditional Dalit votes of the BSP would fetch him good results.

However, one factor going against Niraj is the anger of sitting MP Rita Bahuguna Joshi. She had won the seat in 2019 as a BJP nominee but the party dropped her and fielded Niraj, who was an additional advocate-general of UP.

A known turncoat, Joshi is the daughter of Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna, former chief minister of UP.

“Niraj has never been in active politics and has always been non-aggressive. These are drawbacks in current politics where even the
PM is crossing all limits in action and words,” said a political observer.

Political analyst Sneh Madhur said it is good for Niraj that he is new in politics. “People will vote for him out
of curiosity. I believe Modi is still a factor in the elections and a large number of voters is with him.”

Allahabad votes on May 25