Senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal on Wednesday said that he has resigned from the party. Speaking to reporters in Lucknow after filing his nomination papers for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections, Sibal said that he is in the fray for Upper House as an independent candidate and that he enjoys the support of the Samajwadi Party.
"I have filed the nomination as an Independent candidate. I thank Akhileshji for supporting me," Sibal, who was accompanied by Akhilesh Yadav and senior SP leader Ram Gopal Yadav for filing papers, told reporters.
"I resigned from the Congress on May 16 and am no longer a senior Congress leader now," he said.
Sibal, a lawyer by profession, shares a cordial relationship with Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and other SP leaders. He recently represented senior SP leader Azam Khan in Supreme Court and helped him secure bail. He had also helped Akhilesh retain the party’s election symbol 'bicycle' in 2017 when the Yadav family was locked in a family feud.
The SP's decision to support Sibal's candidature is seen as a reciprocal gesture by the party for helping Azam Khan in his legal battle.
Another Samajwadi Party candidate Javed Ali Khan also filed his nomination. Khan (59), who represented the SP in the Upper House of Parliament from 2014 to 2020, filed his nomination in the presence of party leaders Ram Gopal Yadav, Ambika Chowdhury and others.
"I have filed my nomination as an SP candidate. I am grateful to the party leadership for giving me the chance," Khan said.
Sources said that the Samajwadi Party is yet to decide whether Akhilesh Yadav's wife Dimple Yadav will file her nomination papers.
Elections to 57 Rajya Sabha seats spread across 15 states will take place on June 10. The maximum number of seats falls in Uttar Pradesh i.e. 11.
The SP and its allies (RLD and SBSP), with a strength of 125 legislators, are in a comfortable position to win three seats. With 273 MLAs in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly, the ruling BJP-led NDA will easily be able to get eight members elected to the Upper House.
READ MORE: Rajya Sabha elections: Polls on 57 seats across 11 states on June 10
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