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Will Unnao Re-Elect Controversial BJP MP Sakshi Maharaj?

On the campaign trail in Unnao, Sakshi Maharaj was seen threatening to curse people who didn’t vote for him.
Hindustan Times via Getty Images

Controversial MP Sakshi Maharaj is BJP’s candidate from Unnao in Uttar Pradesh. The state has 80 seats, 13 of which are going to polls on 29 April.

In Unnao, Maharaj is up against Samajwadi Party’s Arun Shankar Shuklaa, also known as Anna Maharaj, and Congress candidate Annu Tandon, a former MP from the seat.

Last month, Maharaj claimed this would be last election in the country and there would be none in 2024. “In 2014 there was wave of Modi but in 2019 there is tsunami of Modi and no power of the world can stop him from forming a government with complete majority,” he said.

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He had also written to the BJP leadership warning that “results would not be good” if he was not renominated from Unnao.

In his election affidavit, Maharaj details 34 cases against him, ranging from promoting enmity, four cases related to criminal intimidation, robbery, dacoity, murder, forgery, cheating and criminal breach of trust, IANS reported. He has twice been accused of rape.

On the campaign trail in Unnao, he was seen threatening to curse people who didn’t vote for him.

“I am a sanyasi and when a sanyasi comes to your door and asks for ‘bhiksha’, and is not heard, he takes away all the happiness of the family and transfer his sins onto them,” he said at an election meeting, PTI reported.

Maharaj runs a network of ashrams and schools in UP.

Unnao was in the news last year after a BJP MLA from the district was named as one of the accused in the rape of a minor.

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.