Shamli District is a recently established administrative region. Previously part of Muzaffarnagar District, it was a prominent tehsil within it. At the time of the 2011 census, Shamli district had a population of 1,273,578. Shamli is a largely rural district with 40% voters from the Muslim community. There are three Vidhan Sabha constituencies in Shamli district: Shamli, Kairana, and Thanabhawan. All of these are part of Kairana Lok Sabha constituency. The current MLA for Shamli is Prasan Chaudhary (RLD) and the Lok Sabha MP is Pradeep Choudhary (BJP). The MLA for Kairana is Nahid Hasan (Samajwadi Party) while that of Thanabhawan is Ashraf Ali Khan (RLD). There is a significant population of Jats in Shamli district, as evidenced from the presence of RLD legislators.<br><br>Shamli city has an agriculture and industry-based economy where sugarcane is the main crop. There are three major sugar mills located at Shamli, Un and Thanabhawan. Shamli is known worldwide for its Rim-Axle industry which also got selected under Uttar Pradesh Governments One District One Product Scheme. Religious polarisation is an issue, as Shamli and Muzaffarnagar districts were "considered sensitive" ever since the violent riots of August and September 2013.<br><br>In the year 2017, when the Yogi government was formed in Uttar Pradesh, development work started appearing on the ground in Shamli. At present, many new colonies are being developed on the Shamli-Muzaffarnagar road, Bhainswal road and Kairana road. Many small colonies are being built on the under construction Collectorate Road as well. Earlier. There was a provision of 25 acres of land as per the standard for construction of a colony, but now the state government has approved the proposal of setting up a small colony in 12.5 acres of land. Small investors and regional public representatives have also welcomed this. Meanwhile, the construction of five national highways, corridors and a ring road is going on to relieve the traffic situation of Shamli city and neighbouring areas.<br><br>The Kairana Lok Sabha constituency is no stranger to communal tensions between Jats and Muslims. The wounds of the 2013 riots in Kairana still run deep, especially among those, mostly Hindu families displaced after an exodus from Kairana. The Yogi government has made assurances to families to return and resume their business activities. Many have even returned seeing an improved law and order situation. Owing largely to this polarisation, the BJP remains popular among Hindu voters here and has been holding the seat since 2014. While sitting MP Pradeep Singh will contest one more time from the seat, the other two major parties SP and BSP have named Iqra Hasan and Sripal Singh respectively as their candidates. These parties lean primarily on the Muslim vote bank, while the BJP-RLD alliance is expected to win the support of Hindu voters including Jats.
Location of Kairana Lok Sabha constituency on the map of India displaying the 543 different Parliamentary constituencies (Image: News18)