 "Sugarcane")
On a hot May afternoon, a long queue of tractor trolleys loaded beyond capacity with sugarcane, are lined up outside the Upper Doab Sugar Mills in Shamli district – in the heart of western Uttar Pradesh’s sugarcane belt. By-elections for the Kairana Lok Sabha seat – of which, Shamli forms an assembly segment – are due to be held in a few days and pending sugarcane dues – Rs 12.5 billion at the time – has become the one issue that has come to define this election.
Jeetender Singh, who has come with 60 quintals of sugarcane to deposit in the
