A mechanic, Saifi has started campaigning with two cars that his friends have arranged for him. “I have got permission from the district administration for these cars, but I prefer to canvas door-to-door to save my fuel expenditure,” he says. With his 10-member family, Saifi, who has studied till Class XII, lives in Raja Ka Majhola village.

Saifi is confident of his victory, as his constituency has 80,000 Muslim voters, followed by 60,000 Yadav and 30,000 Jatav voters. Saifi says his contest is with BSP’s Meer Hadi Ali alias Babar Ali, though Parivartan Dal’s D P Yadav and SP’s Onkar Singh Yadav are also in the fray.

Saifi said the BJP fielded him “to test the inclination of Muslims”. During the past year the party has worked hard to attract Muslim voters, he claims, and if he wins, “the party can think of fielding Muslim candidates in 2014 Lok Sabha polls in a few seats in UP”. He has requested the party to ask former chief minister Rajnath Singh, national leaders Kalraj Mishra, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Hema Malini and Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj to campaign for him.

Badaun district president Prem Swaroop Pathak claims that Saifi can give a good fight, but at the same time admits that many of his partymen are unhappy over the decision to field him. “Saifi has not been very active in the party. Still, the party preferred him over Daya Sindhu Shankhdhar who had contested on BJP ticket in the past and has been very active since 1991,” Pathak says.