Ajay Rai
President of Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee
Assumed office
17 August 2023
Preceded byBrijlal Khabri
MLA
In office
2012–2017
Preceded byNew Seat
Succeeded byAvadhesh Singh
ConstituencyPindra
In office
1996–2011
Preceded byUdal
Succeeded bydissolved
ConstituencyKolasla
Personal details
Born (1969-10-07) 7 October 1969
Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India
CitizenshipIndian
Political partyIndian National Congress (2012–present)
Other political
affiliations		Bharatiya Janata Party (1996–2009), Samajwadi Party (2009)
SpouseReena Rai
Parent(s)Surendra Rai and Parvati devi Rai
ResidenceVaranasi

Ajay Rai (born 7 October 1969) is an Indian politician and a member of the Indian National Congress since 2012. He is a five-time MLA from Uttar Pradesh. He is the current Uttar Pradesh Congress chief.[1]

A local strongman in the Varanasi area, Rai has changed his party affiliations several times. He began his political career as a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party's student wing. He won the Legislative Assembly elections from the Kolasla constituency three times in a row between 1996 and 2007 on a BJP ticket. He left the party after being denied a Lok Sabha ticket. He then joined the Samajwadi Party and unsuccessfully contested the 2009 Lok Sabha elections. Subsequently, he won the 2009 Legislative Assembly by-election from the Kolasla constituency as an independent. He joined the Indian National Congress in 2012. After the Kolasla constituency ceased to exist post-delimitation, he won the 2012 Assembly elections from the newly created Pindra constituency, which comprises a sizeable portion of the former Kolasla constituency.

He was the Congress candidate for the Varanasi parliament seat in the 2014 and 2019 general elections, and lost to Narendra Modi.[2][1][3]

Early life

Ajay Rai was born in Varanasi to Parvati Devi Rai and Surendra Rai in a Bhumihar Brahmin family who were natives of Ghazipur district.[4] According to The Indian Express and other Indian newspapers, he is known as a local bahubali (strongman) and is a history-sheeter,[5][6] a term in Indian English for a person with a "history of criminal record".[7]

He became an associate of Brijesh Singh, after his elder brother Awadhesh Rai was shot dead in Lahurabir area, allegedly by Mukhtar Ansari and his men in 1994. Earlier, he had been associated with Brijesh Singh and Tribhuvan Singh in several criminal cases since 1989.[8]

In 1991, his name had figured in an attack on the Anil Singh, the deputy mayor of Varanasi. In his FIR, Anil Singh stated that Ajay Rai and others had fired at his jeep in the Cantonment area on 20 August 1991.[9] Rai was later acquitted in the case.[5]

Political career

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)

Rai began his political career as a member of the BJP's youth wing.[10] In 1996, Rai contested the Vidhan Sabha elections from the Kolasla seat on a BJP ticket.

He defeated the nine-time CPI MLA Udal by a narrow margin of 484 votes. He went on to retain the seat in the 2002 and 2007 elections, defeating Awadhesh Singh of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) by much larger margins. A Bhumihar himself,[11] he relied on the Bhumihar and Brahmin vote banks in the Kolasla constituency.[12]

Samajwadi Party (SP)

In 2007, Rai denied the rumours that he was planning to join the Samajwadi Party (SP), stating that the SP was responsible for "all the ills plaguing the State".[13] However, in 2009, he resigned as an MLA, after BJP refused to give him a ticket for contesting the Lok Sabha elections from Varanasi. He then joined SP, and contested the elections against BJP's Murli Manohar Joshi. He lost the elections, getting the third highest number of votes after Joshi and Mukhtar Ansari. His supporters allegedly campaigned for Joshi to ensure the defeat of his arch-rival Mukhtar Ansari in a communally-polarized environment.[14]

Independent

After losing the Lok Sabha elections, he contested the Kolasla by-elections as an independent.[15] He alleged that BSP had pressurised him to join the party, and when he refused, his security cover was reduced.[16] During the campaigning, he accused some police officers of pressurising his supporters to work for the candidate of the ruling BSP. When he protested against the alleged harassment, he and seven of his supporters were arrested.[17] Rai won the by-elections.[18] In 2010, Rai staged a sit-in to protest the arrest of the local corporator Sanjay Singh and his associate Jitin Jha. The two had been arrested for assaulting and robbing a hotel owner. After Rai refused to end his protest, he and his supporters were arrested.[19]

Indian National Congress (INC)

After the Kolasla constituency ceased to exist post-delimitation, Rai won from the 2012 Assembly elections from the new Pindra constituency, which comprises a sizeable portion of the former Kolasla constituency. He routed the BJP candidate, who received just 3,000 votes.[10] When he contested the 2012 elections, Rai was an accused in 16 criminal cases, and was booked under the Gangster Act and Goonda Act. According to him, he had been framed in four cases by the Bahujan Samaj Party regime, while other cases were "mostly over".[20]

Rai was the Congress candidate in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections from Varanasi. He lost to BJP's prime-ministerial nominee Narendra Modi, coming third after Arvind Kejriwal.[2]

On 5 October 2015, Rai was arrested for his alleged role in the violence and arson in Varanasi during a march by seers and other local leaders against police action on protesters opposing ban on immersion of Ganesha idols in the Ganga river.[21] He was released 7 months later, when the Allahabad High Court granted him bail.[22]

In 2017, Rai lost Uttar Pradesh state elections from Pindra as a Congress candidate.[23] Since then, he has participated in protests against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Varanasi city.

In 2019, Rai lost the Lok Sabha Elections from Varanasi constituency as a Congress candidate against Narendra Modi, securing third place.[24]

Electoral record

Year Election Party Constituency Name Result Votes gained Vote share% Margin
1996 13th UP Assembly Bharatiya Janata Party Kolasla Won 38,352 26.67% 488
2002 14th UP Assembly Kolasla Won 56,454 37.54% 15,268
2007 15th UP Assembly Kolasla Won 41,935 28.27% 4,956
2009 15th Lok Sabha Samajwadi Party Varanasi Lost 123,874 18.61% 79,248
2009 (Bye-election) 15th UP Assembly Independent Kolasla Won 43,711 27.50% 8,837
2012 16th Uttar Pradesh Assembly Indian National Congress Pindra Won 52,863 29.31% 9,218
2014 16th Lok Sabha Varanasi Lost 75,614 7.34% 5,05,408
2017 17th UP Assembly Pindra Lost 48,189 23.58% 42,425
2019 17th Lok Sabha Varanasi Lost 152,548 14.38% 5,22,116
2022 18th UP Assembly Pindra Lost 48,248 21.88% 36,077

References

  1. 1 2 Who is Ajay Rai? A history-sheeter, he lost to Modi by 5 lakh votes in 2014 Lok Sabha election, The Financial Express (April 25, 2019)
  2. 1 2 "Constituency-wise results: Varanasi". Election Commission of India. Archived from the original on 18 May 2014. Retrieved 17 May 2014.
  3. ↑ No Priyanka Gandhi vs Narendra Modi faceoff in Varanasi, Congress fields Ajay Rai, India Today (April 25, 2019)
  4. ↑ Congress wants a Brahmin against Modi, not Digvijaya Archived 13 May 2014 at the Wayback Machine
  5. 1 2 "AcT I: tainted candidates take the floor". Indian Express. 24 March 2009.
  6. ↑ "Strongman Ajay Rai dreads the 420 tag given by party". DNA. 14 April 2014.
  7. ↑ History-sheeter, Quote: Indian: A person with a criminal record. ‘a defendant with a rotten record: a history-sheeter, a bad egg’
  8. ↑ Bhupendra Pandey (20 March 2009). "Varanasi polls get more sensitive". Indian Express.
  9. ↑ Bhupendra Pandey (12 September 2009). "5 cases, 20 days, UP don acquitted as witnesses, cops turn hostile". Indian Express.
  10. 1 2 "It's outsider versus local in Varanasi, says Ajay Rai". The Hindu. 9 April 2014.
  11. ↑ Seema Chishti (23 April 2007). "BJP tie-up doesn't go down well in Apna Dal land". Indian Express.
  12. ↑ "Kolasala assembly seat heading for a big fight". The Hindu. 20 April 2007. Archived from the original on 16 April 2014. Retrieved 15 April 2014.
  13. ↑ "No plan to join SP: BJP MLA". Hindustan Times. 22 March 2007. Archived from the original on 11 June 2014.
  14. ↑ Omar Rashid (9 April 2014). "It's outsider versus local in Varanasi, says Ajay Rai". The Hindu.
  15. ↑ "Former BJP MLA to contest Kolasla bypoll as independent candidate". DNA. 5 October 2009.
  16. ↑ "Rai moves court against withdrawal of addl security". The Times of India. 19 July 2010.
  17. ↑ "Independent candidate for Kolasla by-poll arrested". Zee News. 28 October 2009.
  18. ↑ "BJP, SP, Congress Get Drubbing in UP Bypolls". India TV. 1 November 2009.
  19. ↑ "Kolasala legislator arrested for creating ruckus". The Indian Express. 28 August 2010.
  20. ↑ Virendra Nath Bhatt (7 February 2012). "History-sheeters dominate Congress' list of electoral candidates". Tehelka. Archived from the original on 16 April 2014. Retrieved 15 April 2014.
  21. ↑ Varanasi violence: Congress MLA Ajay Rai arrested, FIR against 105 persons
  22. ↑ Binay Singhi (2 May 2016). "Congress MLA Ajay Rai released from jail after 7-month imprisonment". The Times of India.
  23. ↑ "Pindra - Uttar Pradesh Election Result 2017 - Party and Candidate Wise Full Winner List". Firstpost. Retrieved 21 August 2017.
  24. ↑ "Ajay secured third place in 2019 Varanasi Loksabha Elections". Business Today.
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