Civic polls: Former MLA is SP pick for mayor in Aligarh

The Samajwadi Party has announced its candidates for mayoral elections in Aligarh, Agra, Mathura, Bareilly, Varanasi, and Ghaziabad. The move follows the party's call for followers of Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar to support it in order to dislodge the BJP.

The Samajwadi Party has trusted two-time former MLA, Jamirullah Khan, as its candidate for mayor from Aligarh, which is to witness a tough contest after the BSP candidate won the mayoral election in 2017, defeating the BJP candidate.

For representation only (HT File Photo)

Lalita Jatav has been named SP candidate from the reserved seat of Agra while Pandit Tulsi Ram Sharma is contesting for Samajwadi Party from Mathura.

Sanjeev Saxena is to be SP candidate from Bareilly while OP Singh will contest from Varanasi and Neelam Garg will be SP candidate for the Ghaziabad mayor’s seat.

Naresh Uttam Patel, state president of Samajwadi Party, released the list of these candidates.

The wife of a government servant in the education department, Lalita Jatav has been named SP candidate from Agra, a seat reserved for Scheduled Caste women. Also known as Dalit Capital, Agra has a strong dominance of the Jatav community amongst Schedule Caste voters.

“Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav has given a call to followers of Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar to support Samajwadi Party to dislodge the BJP. In such a scenario, the party leadership has made the perfect choice in naming Lalita Jatav as the party candidate,” said Wazid Nisar, Agra unit president, Samajwadi Party, on Saturday.