The 146-year-old Darul Uloom, situated in the otherwise sleepy town of Deoband on Muzaffarnagar-Saharanpur highway, holds considerable theological and moral influence on the nation’s Muslim community. The internationally renowned seminary not only has created educational and religious awareness among the Muslims but also the political reasoning of the electorate in Deoband assembly seat. The community will again hold the key to the outcome on the Deoband assembly seat when it goes to polls in the sixth phase of Uttar Pradesh assembly polls on February 28.
Samajwadi Party candidate Rajendra Singh Rana was elected from here in 2002. He went on to become a minister in the Mulayam Singh Yadav government. He was, however, summarily rejected by the electorate in 2007 elections and came third. UNI