Nizamabad (Uttar Pradesh)



No political wave is enough to shake the faith of voters of Nizamabad Vidhan sabha constituency in Uttar Pradesh in Alam Badi, who embodies simplicity and honesty; they have elected him as their representative to the legislature for the fifth term.

As a candidate of the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party, Alam Badi defeated BJP's Manoj by 34,187 votes. Alam Badi bagged 79,835 votes, while his rival received 45,648 votes.

It’s due to the personality of the 86-year old Alam Bade that the Samajwadi Party has continued to win from this seat even in the 2017 electoral Tsunami in favour of the BJP. He has been contesting from this sear since 1996 and only once, in 2007, he lost the election to the BSP candidate Angad Yadav.

This time, Alam Bade has won in a multi-corner contest with BSP, Congress, and others also fielding their candidates from this seat and that makes his victory all the more significant.

Nizamabad is not a Muslim majority constituency; Muslims just constitute one-third of the voters and the rest are mostly Hindus.

Alam Badi is speaking to a younger neighbour in a public place

Alam Badi is a qualified mechanical engineer. Initially, he had picked in a job in Gorakhpur but soon he came under the influence of national leaders and turned to public service. 

He lives in a modest old house with his wife and has six sons. Three of his sons are studying abroad, one is working for a private company, the other runs a small furniture store and the third one works as his assistant and stays with him.

Alam Badi meets his workers and people in the makeshift office covered with a tin roof in the compound of his house. People have seen Alam Badi’s grandchildren sweeping the house as the family doesn’t employ servants and helpers.

While today most of the leaders travel in luxury vehicles, the family uses UP Roadways buses to travel. Alam Badi takes a bus to Lucknow to attend to the Legislative Assembly session.

Alam Badi, who dislikes being accompanied by a group of supporters in public, can be often spotted walking in his locality without security paraphernalia. He drives is a second-hand Bolero car.

His election campaign is a reflection of his life. He doesn’t use posters or banners in his advertisements. During the election campaign, he would leave his house by 9 a.m. and move around talking to people till 5 p.m. He spends all his MLA funds on public welfare schemes.

Alam Badi with his voters during the campaign for Assembly elections

Alam Badi has turned down the post of Minister several times in the SP government. He has built four big gates in the name of martyrs of the Nizamabad area during his tenure.

Also Read: A King’s generosity behind Poland’s gesture to Indians fleeing Ukraine

The city of Nizamabad is famous for the tomb of the Sufi saint Nizam-ud-din. The Gurudwara here had hosted the Sikhism’s founder Guru Nanak Dev and the place is home to the modern Hindi poet Ayodhya Singh Hardoi.