Lucknow east: Illustrious constituency, conscious voters

LUCKNOW: From being the political nursery of Chandra Bhanu Gupta – former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh to the constituency of heavyweight BJP leader Kalraj Mishra, who made his electoral debut as last as 2012, the assembly constituency of Lucknow East has seen politicians belonging to different political parties representing it in the Uttar Pradesh legislative assembly since the first general elections held in 1951.
Geographically, this assembly constituency after 2008 delimitation covers an area of nearly 6 square kilometres. However, before delimitation, some portions of this assembly constituency used to come under the erstwhile Mahona constituency and Lucknow Central.
Electoral history of this assembly constituency reveals that voters of this assembly constituency over the years have given opportunity to candidates from different political parties to serve them. However, if the MLA did not meet the expectations, the voters did not hesitate to show them the exit door. This could be gauged from the fact that Swaroop Rani Bakshi of the Congress became the first MLA to overcome the anti-incumbency factor as late as 1974. Bakshi retained the assembly constituency in 1977, 1980 and 1985, but eventually lost it to Ravidas Mehrotra of Janta Dal and Bhagwati Prasad Shukla of the BJP in 1989 and 1991 respectively.
Lucknow East also happens to be the first assembly constituency to witness anti-incumbency factor for the Congress, when in the second general elections (1957), Triloki Singh of Praja Socialist Party (PSP) defeated the incumbent MLA Chandra Bhanu Gupta of Congress by a margin of 11396 votes (26.41% of the valid votes polled). While, Triloki got 27271 votes, CB Gupta could get 15875 votes.
The assembly constituency has also proved to be a bastion for the Bharatiya Janata Party for the past two decades or so. The emergence of BJP was first spotted in this assembly constituency in 1980, when its candidate Ravi Dass Mehrotra lost to Swaroop Rani Bakshi of the Congress. The result was same in 1985. And, it was in 1991 (during the pre-Mandir movement) that BJP tasted success for the first time from this constituency, with Bhagwati Prasad Shukla defeating 4-time Congress MLA Swaroop Rani Bakshi (by a margin of 24412 votes (37.12% of total valid votes polled).
Bhagwati Prasad Shukla retained the seat for the BJP in 1993. And, then it was the turn of Vidya Sagar Gupta to carry forward the party’s legacy in the assembly constituency. Gupta retained the seat in 2002 and 2007. Post-delimitation, the assembly elections were held for the first time in 2012, in which BJP fielded Kalraj Mishra from this seat.
The results of the 2012 assembly elections of Lucknow East was also of significance for the BJP, as it was the only assembly constituency in Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s Lucknow, which the party managed to retain, while rest of its bastions had fallen prey to the Samajwadi Party and Congress. In the 2012 assembly elections, senior BJP leader Kalraj Mishra got 68726 votes, while Juhie Singh of the SP bagged 47908 votes.
Localities coming under this assembly constituency: Badshahnagar, Mahanagar, Gomtinagar (Vibhuti Khand, Vivek Khand, Vineet Khand, Vishwas Khand), Rabindrapalli, Indiranagar, HAL, Ismailganj, Kamta, Kalyanpur, Vikasnagar, New Hyderabad and Police Lines.
Prominent MLAs of this constituency:
Chandra Bhanu Gupta: The three-time chief minister of Uttar Pradesh started his political journey from Lucknow City East assembly constituency in 1951. Fighting on a Congress ticket, CB Gupta defeated Krishna Gopal Kalantari of the Bharatiya Jan Sangh by a margin of 12977 votes (34.51% of the total votes polled). However, in the next assembly elections (1957), Gupta became a victim of anti-incumbency factor and lost to Triloki Singh of PSP.
Swaroop Rani Bakshi: In 1974, Swaroop Rani Bakshi also known as Bakshi Didi among her supporters became the first female MLA from Lucknow East. In fact, Congress warhorse also holds the distinction of being the first MLA of this constituency to retain her seat. Bakshi won in 1977, 1980 and 1985.
Kalraj Mishra: In 2012 assembly elections (the first to be held after delimitation), the senior BJP leader made his electoral debut, and proved to be the lone saviour for the BJP in Lucknow, as all the sitting MLAs of the party in Lucknow suffered poll losses to rival parties, w