Ahead of the civic elections, the Samajwadi Party (SP) on Wednesday announced candidates for eight mayoral seats in the state.
Vandana Mishra (Lucknow), Kajal Nishad (Gorakhpur), Ajay Srivastava (Allahabad), Raghuvir Chaudhary (Jhansi), Seema Pradhan (Meerut), Archana Verma (Shahjahanpur), Mashrur Fatima (Firozabad), and Alok Pandey (Ayodhya) are the SP’s mayoral candidates.
Vandana Mishra, the aspirant for the Lucknow seat, is a former journalist and the wife of former Lucknow University professor Ramesh Dixit. While her direct association with the party is said to be recent, she has been its long-time supporter. “If Lucknow is considered the citadel of the BJP, then I will demolish it,” she said.
Kajal Nishad, the party’s Gorakhpur candidate, is a Bhojpuri actress and was the party’s MLA candidate for Campirganj in the 2022 assembly polls.
Allahabad mayor aspirant Ajay Srivastava is a resident of George Town and had once contested on the Allahabad north seat on BSP ticket.
Seema Pradhan is the wife of SP MLA Atul Pradhan. The candidates were declared after marathon meetings at the party office in Lucknow in which several aspirants and senior party leaders participated.