NEW DELHI: The number '29' seems to have been very significant yesterday in UP's
Gorakhpur, home to the famed Goraknath 'math', the religious centre of the 'Naths'.
Consider this:
Praveen Kumar Nishad,
the Samajwadi Party (SP) candidate
+ who upset the BJP in yesterday's Lok Sabha bypoll results in Gorakhpur, is 29 years old.
By winning, Nishad unseated the 29-year stranglehold that a candidate from the 'math' has had on that Lok Sabha seat in the temple town. So, 29-year-old Nishad, a first-time candidate who's never seen his constituency in anyone's but the BJP's hands, has become the change he wants to see, as it were.
The loss of the Gorakhpur seat, which was until recently occupied by chief minister Adityanath - who had scored five straight victories there since 1998 - came as a surprise not just to the BJP but to almost all political parties, including the SP itself.
Even more baffling was the fact that the constituency was snatched away from the BJP by a first timer. So what do we know about Praveen Kumar Nishad other than that he's 29?
Nishad has an engineering degree from Lucknow's Gautam Budh University. He graduated in 2011. He has no criminal cases against him. His assets, according to an affidavit submitted by him, total a mere Rs 11 lakh. That amount includes Rs 99,000 in loans. And he's married to a government servant and has two children.
Now, Nishad is also Member of Parliament, Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh.
Read the story in Hindi
