Lucknow: The Samajwadi Party may crack the whip on as many as 100 party MLAs denying them seats in the upcoming UP Assembly elections in its bid to tackle the anti-incumbency wave in Uttar Pradesh.
“The party will have to deny tickets to up to 100 of its sitting MLAs," a person privy to the deliberations among top party leaders told Economic Times.
The reason behind such a move being planned is an understanding among the party’s leadership that while there was little anti-incumbency that CM Akhilesh Yadav was faced with as compared to the party’s individual MLAs. “Denying MLAs a ticket is our best bet to beat the anti-incumbency," the source said.
The SP has 229 members in the 403-member state assembly. Elections are expected to happen early next year.
The party has already released its first list of 142 candidates in last week of March. In the list, which includes two MLAs of Peace Party and an Independent, the party has replaced 85 candidates who had contested the elections in 2012.The SP had lost 140 of these 142 seats in the 2012 state elections. Later, it lost the two remaining seats as well in bypolls.
In fact, it suspended four MLAs from the party for cross-voting during the RS polls.
The party is now going to start the process to finalise the names for the seats currently held by it.
SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, in fact, has been very critical of party MLAs maintaining a distance from party workers and has cautioned them against this.
