Sheetal Pandey

Pandey contested his first election in the 2006 by-election from the Kauriram assembly constituency, Gorakhpur.^[2]

He lost that election to the Samajwadi Party candidate Ram Bhuwal Nishad by about 10000 votes.^[3][2]

Pandey had the support of the then Gorakhpur Bharatiya Janata Party Member of parliament and the current Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Yogi Adityanath.^[2] His loss was attributed to Bharatiya Janata Party rebel Upendra Shukla, who polled about 17,000 votes against Pandey's 41,600 votes, thus dividing the Bharatiya Janata Party vote share.^[2] Ram Bhuwal Nishad, who won that election, polled about 52,000 votes.^[2] Pandey was given a Bharatiya Janata Party ticket again in 2017 to contest the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly election.^[4][5]

In 2017, aged 63, he was elected for the first time to the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly. He defeated Yashpal Singh Rawat of the Samajwadi Party, securing 72,213 votes; her nearest rival contestants Yashpal Singh Rawat of the Samajwadi Party secured 56,836 votes and Devnarayan Singh Alias GM Singh of the Bahujan Samaj Party secured 54,143 votes.^[4]

The division in the vote share between the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party helped Pandey secure a victory margin of about 18,000 votes.