Voters in two assembly constituencies of Sonbhadra district would for the first time elect their MLAs hailing from Scheduled Tribe (ST) tomorrow in the seventh and final phase of UP assembly elections.
The two assembly constituencies which have been reserved for STs this time are Obra and Duddhi.
In the 403-member Uttar Pradesh Assembly there are 317 general seats while 84 seats are reserved for Scheduled Castes (SC) and two for Scheduled Tribes (ST).
"STs constitute almost 36 per cent of Duddhi's voters, while 18 per cent of the population of Obra assembly constituency is that of the STs," said Vijay Singh Gond, who has been MLA from Duddhi seven times on different party tickets.
Gond (65), who is contesting this time on a BSP ticket, said that Duddhi is one of the biggest blocks in UP.
"It is because of this that we are demanding that Duddhi be made a separate district. The demand to make Duddhi a district has been going on since March 4, 1989, when Sonbhadra was carved out from Mirzapur, but in the last 5 years, the agitation has intensified," he said.
He said that even during the British Rule, Duddhi was a separate administrative unit, and was governed by a different set of rules. "It was not a part of any district at that time," he claimed.
Prior to this election, Duddhi was reserved for Schedule Castes (till 2012), while Obra has been created after delimitation in 2008 and was a general seat in 2012 polls.
Addressing an election rally here yesterday, Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi promised that if Congress-SP alliance forms the government in the state, they would make Duddhi district headquarters.
Gond's victory march started in 1980 on Congress ticket, and continued in 1985 as well. In 1989, he contested as an Independent while fought on Janata Dal ticket in 1991 and 1993, and emerged victorious. He retained the seat on SP ticket in 1996 and 2002.
He did not contest in 2007, and Chandra Mani Prasad of BSP won the election, while in 2012 Independent candidate Ruby Prasad bagged Duddhi.
Obra was won by BSP's Sunil Kumar in 2012.
According to Ravindra Kesari, a resident of Sonbhadra,
"Gond's caste was listed in the ST category in 2005. Hence, he could not fight the subsequent elections. After the seat was notified as reserved for ST by the EC and following delimitation, Gond is again in fray."
Among other local issues, giving rights to use the forest products to the forest dwellers is the prominent one in the polls here.
"Demonetisation is also a major issue in this assembly election. Apart from this, health and education have always been election issues in the district for the past many years," Kesari said.
Interestingly, Gond's son Virendra Pratap Singh is also contesting from the neighbouring Obra constituency on a BSP ticket.
Some of the other candidates in fray from Obra include Ravi Gond of SP and Sanjiv Kumar of the BJP. There are as many as 11 candidates trying their luck from Obra constituency.
Similarly in Duddhi, Vijay Singh Gond is challenged by Anil Kumar Singh of the Congress, Shivkumar Kharwar of RLD and Hariram of Apna Dal (Soneylal). The total number of candidates in fray from Duddhi is eight.
Sonbhadra borders four states -- Madhya Pradesh, Chhattishgarh, Jharkhand and Bihar.
The district is bound by Mirzapur to the northwest, Chandauli to the north, Kaimur and Rohtas districts of Bihar to the northeast, Garhwa district of Jharkhand to the east, Koriya and Surguja districts of Chhattisgarh to the south, and Singrauli district of Madhya Pradesh to the west.
The district headquarters is in the town of Robertsganj.
Sonbhadra is an industrial zone, rich in minerals like bauxite, limestone and coal.
