Main issues: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a factor in the election but so are caste and development issues. Balyan is a Jat and his was a thoughtful candidate selection since the constituency has a significant Jat population. However, development issues have typically held sway in this university town. For the record, Gautam had created a stir last year over the presence of a portrait of Mohammed Ali Jinnah in Aligarh Muslim University. Over 20 per cent of the population is Muslim but Aligarh has never had a Muslim Lok Sabha MP. The Lodhs, an OBC community, is influential in the constituency and former Chief Minister Kalyan Singh's village of Atrauli falls within the Aligarh constituency. Singh is a Lodh.