LUCKNOW Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav will contest his first UP Assembly polls from Karhal seat in SP stronghold – Mainpuri. The development comes days after the BJP fielded Yogi Adityanath on the Gorakhpur Sadar seat.
“Party president Akhilesh Yadav will contest from Karhal seat,” said Ashutosh Verma, SP national spokesperson. “It’s final, but we have not made a formal announcement yet,” said Rajendra Chaudhary, national secretary and spokesperson, Samajwadi Party.
The SP could also make Tej Pratap Yadav, former SP MP from Mainpuri, Akhilesh’s election in-charge, party sources said. Pratap is the grand nephew of SP chief patron Mulayam Singh Yadav and he was Mainpuri MP from 2014 to 2019. In 2019, Mulayam became MP from Mainpuri.
Ever since speculations on chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s candidature for assembly polls surfaced, there were talks about Akhilesh too contesting the 2022 polls. Yogi Adityanath and Akhilesh Yadav had been MPs in the past, but they had never contested assembly elections. Both took the Vidhan Parishad route to become members of the UP legislature when they became chief ministers.
Akhilesh is currently Azamgarh MP. Before this, there had been speculations that he might contest from the Gopalpur Assembly seat in Azamgarh. Earlier, on January 3, he said if he would contest the UP elections himself, then there are many options for him. “If the party decides so then I will. We have many seats to choose from as Netaji (SP founder and Akhilesh’s father Mulayam Singh Yadav) had contested many assembly elections -- in Sambhal, Firozabad, Etah, Mainpuri, Shahjahanpur and Azamgarh. I can contest from any of these assembly seats.”
{{/usCountry}}Akhilesh is currently Azamgarh MP. Before this, there had been speculations that he might contest from the Gopalpur Assembly seat in Azamgarh. Earlier, on January 3, he said if he would contest the UP elections himself, then there are many options for him. “If the party decides so then I will. We have many seats to choose from as Netaji (SP founder and Akhilesh’s father Mulayam Singh Yadav) had contested many assembly elections -- in Sambhal, Firozabad, Etah, Mainpuri, Shahjahanpur and Azamgarh. I can contest from any of these assembly seats.”
{{/usCountry}}Also at his press conferences on Wednesday and Thursday, Akhilesh said: “We are definitely ahead of the BJP. And if I contest polls, it will also be ahead of them (he meant election date ahead of the polling date in Gorakhpur).”
Karhal is scheduled to go to polls on February 20 in the third phase of UP elections, while Gorakhpur Sadar will vote on March 3 in the sixth phase.
Karhal is a stronghold of the Samajwadi Party since 1993, with only one exception. In the 2002 election, the seat went to the BJP. The sitting MLA of Karhal is Sobaran Singh Yadav, who was with the BJP when he won the seat in 2002. Since 2007, he has been contesting from the seat on the SP ticket.
Before Sobaran Singh Yadav, Karhal was represented by Babu Ram Yadav from 1985. He later joined the Samajwadi Party. The constituency comes under Mainpuri Lok Sabha, which is Mulayam Singh Yadav’s turf. As Akhilesh is likely to make his debut in the state election from this seat, Karhal appears to be a safe bet.