Sanatan Pandey is a politician from Uttar Pradesh affiliated with the Samajwadi Party (SP). He gained attention during the 2024 Indian general elections when he contested the Ballia Lok Sabha seat. He had previously run for the same seat in 2019 but lost to BJP’s Virendra Singh ‘Mast’ by a margin of around 16,000 votes. Pandey alleged that the 2019 results were manipulated under pressure from the ruling BJP.
In the 2024 elections, Pandey again represented the Samajwadi Party, this time running against Neeraj Shekhar, a former Ballia MP and son of ex-Prime Minister Chandrashekhar. During the campaign, Pandey made headlines for threatening local election officials, implying severe consequences if there was any manipulation in the counting process. This led to legal action against him for threatening a government official and attempting to influence the election results. The case against Pandey included charges under multiple sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Representation of the People Act.
Despite the controversy, he succeeded in winning the 2024 Ballia Lok Sabha seat, defeating Shekhar by a significant margin