The legend of Kasganj lives on. Kasganj handed over Uttar Pradesh to Yogi Adityanath for the second time in a row, a history in itself. Legends have it, whichever party wins Kasganj gets to rule India’s largest populous state.
Yesterday, BJP’s Devendra Rajput successfully defended his seat as his party notched up more than enough seats to return to power in Uttar Pradesh. Devendra defeated Samajwadi Party’s 85-year-old Manpal Singh by 46,614 votes to bag Kasganj yet again. Devendra had defeated Manpal even in 2017 for this seat.
For over four decades Kasganj has been the key to forming the government in one of India’s largest states. Party’s victory in Kasganj meant forming the government in UP. All eyes will be on this small town situated in west-central Uttar Pradesh.
Of the 18 assembly elections that have taken place in Uttar Pradesh, Kasganj has decided the government on 15 occasions. Incidentally, it was Manpal Singh, then in his 40s, who won Kasganj twice in a row only to help Congress form the government for two successive terms. It is only after 1985 that Yogi Adityanath and BJP has managed to win back to-back majority in assembly elections.
Let’s take a look at the polling history of Kasganj:
1952: Baburam Gupta (Congress) UP Government: Congress
1957: Kalicharan Agarwal (Congress) UP Government: Congress
1977: Netram Singh (Janata Dal) UP Government: Janata Dal
1980: Manpal Singh (Congress) UP Government: Congress
1985: Manpal Singh (Congress) UP Government: Congress
1989: Govardhan Singh (Janata Dal) UP Government: Janata Dal
1991: Netram Singh (BJP) UP Government: BJP
1996: Netram Singh (BJP) UP Government: BJP-BSP
2002: Manpal Singh (SP) UP Government: BJP-BSP formed government. However, defections from BSP to Samajwadi Party helped Mulayam Singh form the govt.
2007: Hasrat Ullah Khan (BSP) UP Government: BSP
2012: Manpal Singh (SP) UP Government: SP
2017: Devendra Rajput (BJP) UP Government: BJP
2022: Devendra Rajput (BJP) UP Government: BJP
