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U.P. civic polls: Akhilesh wraps up campaign as SP eyes Kanpur, Aligarh, Meerut mayoral seats
The SP chief energised his party’s campaign for the second phase of urban local body polls the campaigning for which ended on May 9
Expecting victory on Kanpur, Meerut and Aligarh mayoral seats, Samajwadi Party (SP) national president Akhilesh Yadav energised his party’s campaign for the second phase of urban local body polls the campaigning for which ended on Tuesday.
Akhilesh addressed public meetings and a held a roadshow for the party’s mayoral candidate Vandana Bajpai there. Earlier on Monday, he campaigned for the party’s Meerut mayoral candidate Seema Pradhan and party candidate from Aligarh Haji Zamirullah Khan.
Vandana Bajpai is the wife of SP MLA from Kanpur Amitabh Bajpai, Seema Pradhan is the wife of a Meerut MLA of SP Atul Pradhan while Haji Zamirullah Khan is a former MLA from an Aligarh assembly seat. Kanpur has a BJP mayor while both Meerut and Aligarh have BSP mayors. With these three seats going to poll in the second phase, Akhilesh’s campaign was far more intense than the previous one the polling for which took place on May 4.
Before Akhilesh, his wife and party’s Mainpuri MP Dimple Yadav held a roadshow in Kanpur. “Obviously, the intensity reflects the party’s thinking that these three seats are more winnable than others,” said a senior SP leader. The SP president had campaigned for party’s Ghaziabad, Gorakhpur, Saharanpur or Lucknow mayoral hopefuls earlier.
In Lucknow, he was originally scheduled to hold a roadshow but did not do so. Instead, he took a ride in the Lucknow Metro as part of his campaign. Akhilesh Yadav did not venture out to Ayodhya Nagar Nigam or the newly formed Shahjahanpur Nagar Nigam elections. He also did not campaign in Azamgarh.
