The Samajwadi Party (SP) has fielded a Brahmin candidate, Subhavati Shukla, against chief minister Yogi Adityanath from the Gorakhpur urban assembly seat for the UP polls.
Subhavati Shukla is the wife of the late Upendra Dutt Shukla, who was the BJP’s state vice-president. She, along with her two sons had joined the Samajwadi Party, on January 20.
Subhavati Shukla’s name is on a list of 24 candidates that the Samajwadi Party declared for the UP polls on Monday. With this, the total number of SP candidates named for the UP polls went up to 311.
The UP polls for 403 assembly seats will be held in seven phases between February 10 and March 7. Gorakhpur goes to polls in the sixth phase on March 3. Counting of votes will take place on March 10.
Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav had given a hint about Subhavati Shukla’s candidature at a press conference in Lucknow on January 20 when he was asked whom the party intended to field against Yogi Adityanath.
The same day, Bhim Army’s Chandra Shekhar Azad had announced his candidature against Yogi Adityanath from the seat.
“A lot of aspirants have applied for the seat. And a Brahmin family, too, has come today to meet,” Akhilesh Yadav had said then.
{{/usCountry}}“A lot of aspirants have applied for the seat. And a Brahmin family, too, has come today to meet,” Akhilesh Yadav had said then.
{{/usCountry}}Despite not making a public announcement about the Gorakhpur urban seat that day (January 20), the party had posted a picture of Subhavati along with several persons on its twitter handle and said: “Impressed with the SP’s policies, the family of the late Upendra Dutt Shukla, the former BJP (state) vice-president, and former Gorakhpur Lok Sabha by-election candidate joined the SP.”
Subhavati Shukla and her two sons had joined the SP in Akhilesh Yadav’s presence.
Just as the SP has fielded Subhavati against Yogi Adityanath on his home turf, the BJP has nominated its Agra MP and Union minister of state SP Singh Baghel to take on Akhilesh Yadav on the Karhal seat, an SP stronghold in Mainpuri district. This is the second time Baghel is contesting against Akhilesh Yadav. The first occasion was the 2009 Lok Sabha election from Firozabad in which Baghel lost.
While Yogi Adityanath’s pre-monastic caste identity is of a Thakur (Hindu upper caste), Chandra Shekhar Azad is a Dalit. By fielding a Brahmin, the SP would look to garner Brahmin, Yadav and Muslim votes.
Upendra Dutt Shukla was a prominent local Brahmin leader of the BJP. He had contested the Lok Sabha by-election from the Gorakhpur seat in 2018 (after Adityanath vacated it on becoming the CM). Shukla lost the by-election to Praveen Nishad, who was the Samajwadi Party candidate.
Upendra Dutt Shukla died in 2020 at the age of 60 after suffering a cardiac arrest. He had contested three elections from the Kaudiram assembly seat (which later became part of Gorakhpur Rural), and one by-election from Gorakhpur.