fazilnagar it is an election of prestige in fazilnagar while on one hand the reputation of turncoat and former minister in bjp government swami prasad maurya is at stake as he eyes to enter the state assembly for the sixth time the ruling bjp has made it a matter of pride after mauryas betrayaltucked along the main highway fazilnagar is a small periurban area of kushinagar having a population of over 55 lakh it is home to 377 lakh voters who have their clear caste loyalties but a confused mind when it comes to casteversusdevelopment politics it is a clear bjp vs sp contest here my choice is clear as i belong to swami prasad mauryas community but then the bjp government has done a lot for the region remarked rakesh kumar a shopkeeper in the babuganj market area of fazilnagaranother businessman in the market sonu gupta says bjps policies have made our survival tough i shall vote for change but that does not mean that i am undermining the development brought by the yogi government he saidthe balance swings in favour of the bjp when one gets to talk to the women who else would i vote for it will surely go to those who provided food to us during the pandemic remarked bina devi as she removed weeds from her farm in the chatia villagethe confusion in the mind of voters may help in countering the antiincumbency against the ruling bjp which has put its bet on twotime mla ganga singh kushwahas son surendra singhsps former district president ilyas ansari who was a strong claimant of ticket but joined bsp after the party fielded maurya makes the third corner of the contest his success will depend on how much muslim votes he can take away there also lies danger for maurya who heavily depends on over 90000 muslim votes in the constituencylocal analysts said that bjp is relying on upper caste votes it is also hoping cash in on the natural division of muslim and maurya voters the seat also has a significant presence of kurmisainthwars whose leader rpn singh quit the congress to join the bjp after mauryas departure from the bjp to spmauryas supporters believe that muslims in the region will vote for the candidate who can defeat the bjp and this formula will add a good chunk of votes for the sp in addition to this he will be fetching the yadavs political party estimates indicate that the fazilnagar assembly segment has around 55000 maurya kushwahas 50000 yadavs 30000 brahmins 40000 kurmisainthwars 30000 vaishyas and about 80000 dalits social activist and political analyst rajesh mani said mauryas victory depends on whether muslim votes consolidate in his favour or not