Former IPS officer Prem Prakash joins BJP amid Lok Sabha polls

Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India], May 21 : Former IPS officer Prem Prakash joined the Bhartiya Janata Party in Lucknow in the presence of the Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak here on Tuesday.
After joining the BJP, Prakash told ANI, "I have started my political career today. I want to contribute to PM Modi's vision of establishing India as a developed nation by 2047."
Lashing out at the opposition, the retired IPS officer said, "Gangster Mukhtar Ansari and Ateeq Ahmad were saved during the tenure of the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party. The authorities failed to arrest them."
"I belong to Bahujan Samaj and I believe that the BJP is the only party that works hard to uplift every section of the society and especially PM Modi's vision of equality has uplifted the status of schedule castes and schedule tribes," he added.
Polling for the 13 Lok Sabha seats, including Lucknow, in the fifth round of the Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh was concluded on May 20.
As one of the most populous states in India, Uttar Pradesh with 80 seats plays a significant role in shaping the composition of the Lok Sabha.
Congress has won the Lucknow seat six times, and BJP has won eight times. Vijay Lakshmi Pandit, sister of the country's first Prime Minister, Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru, became the first MP from this high-profile seat.
The constituency has been a stronghold of the BJP since 1991. It gained prominence with former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee representing it. Vajpayee, after initial setbacks in 1955, 1957 and 1962, won the seat five times.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, BJP's Rajnath Singh defeated SP's Poonam Sinha and Congress' Acharya Pramod Krishnam.
In the 2014 elections, Rajnath Singh defeated the Congress' Rita Bahuguna Joshi, securing 5,61,106 votes and 54.52 per cent of the vote share.
Polling for 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh is being held across all seven phases. The counting of votes is scheduled for June 4.