Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav speaks during his Vijay Rath Yatra ahead of 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, in Unnao.
Highlights
- Samajwadi Party makes it official that Akhilesh Yadav will contest from Karhal seat
- The party released the list of 159 candidates for forthcoming Uttar Pradesh assembly elections
- UP elections will be held in 7 phases from February 10, counting of votes on March 10
The Samajwadi Party (SP) on Monday made it official that Akhilesh Yadav will be contesting the Uttar Pradesh assembly election from the family bastion Karhal seat while uncle Shivpal Yadav would contest from Jaswant Nagar. Assembly Elections 2022: FULL COVERAGE
The party released the list of 159 candidates for the forthcoming Uttar Pradesh assembly election 2022. Polling in the state will be held in 7 phases, beginning February 10, with the last phase on March 7 and the counting of votes on March 10. Samajwadi Party candidates - FULL LIST
Earlier, reports had been doing the rounds that Akhilesh Yadav will contest election from Karhal seat but there was no official statement by the party, however, today in the candidates list released by the Samajwadi Party, Akhilesh Yadav's name was mentioned.
Yadav, who is an MP from the Azamgarh seat, had said on Wednesday that he would decide on contesting the Uttar Pradesh polls after talking to the people of his parliamentary constituency.
The Samajwadi Party's Mainpuri district unit during the day gave a written request to the party chief to contest from the Karhal seat and he agreed, sources said.
Mainpuri has traditionally been a Samajwadi Party stronghold. The Lok Sabha constituency has been with the SP for nine consecutive terms.
Sitting MP and SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav is representing it for the fifth time. At present, the SP holds three out of the four assembly seats in the Mainpuri district.
Karhal, a Yadav-dominated seat, is represented by Sobaran Singh Yadav since 2007. The BJP had last won this seat in 2002 when its candidate Sovaran Singh had won the elections.
In 2014, Mulayam Singh Yadav won the Mainpuri seat by a margin of over 3.25 lakh votes, but later left the seat (retaining Azamgarh). His grandson Tej Pratap Yadav won the bypoll with a margin of 3.50 lakh votes. The SP founder-patron again won the seat in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
In 2017 assembly polls, SP candidate Sobran Yadav had secured 1.04 lakh votes from Karhal, defeating the BJP's Prem Shakya by 38,405 votes.
Reacting to Akhilesh Yadav’s candidature, the BJP said it's a "misconception" of the SP chief that Mainpuri is a "safe seat" for him.
"And we will clear it (the alleged misconception)," BJP spokesperson Rakesh Tripathi said.
“In the Lok Sabha polls, his father Mulayam Singh Yadav could somehow win after the appeal of BSP chief Mayawati. This time, the BJP will puncture his cycle in Karhal (Mainpuri) so that he could not take the expressway to reach Lucknow," Tripathi said.
The Karhal seat goes to polls on February 20, the third phase of voting in the state.
This is going to be Yadav's first assembly election as a candidate. When he was the chief minister between 2012 and 17, he had taken the Legislative Council route.
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