UP polls: Samajwadi Party’s third list of 56 candidates out, 85-year-old MLA, five party hoppers on it

Nine Muslims, 12 Yadavs and 11 non-Yadav OBC candidates are also there on the Samajwadi Party’s third list for the UP polls

Eighty-five-year-old Alambadi, the oldest MLA in the Uttar Pradesh assembly, will contest his Nizamabad seat in Azamgarh district on the Samajwadi Party (SP) ticket yet again as the party released its third list of 56 candidates for the UP polls on Thursday.

Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav addressing a conference in connection with the UP polls. (PTI FILE PHOTO)

Alambadi and five heavyweight legislators of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) — Dara Singh Chauhan, Ram Achal Rajbhar, Lalji Verma, Vinay Tiwari and Mujtaba Siddiqui — are on the list of 56 candidates that the SP declared on Thursday.

Like its previous two lists, the SP tried to give representation to all castes and communities. Nine upper castes (two Brahmins and two Kshatriyas), about 12 Yadavs, 11 non-Yadav OBCs, and nine Muslims are on the list of 56.

The Samajwadi Party also has fielded Abhay Singh, a mafia don-turned-politician and former party MLA, from the Gosainganj seat in Ayodhya. Abhay was the Samajwadi Party MLA from the same seat from 2012-2017.

Alambadi has been contesting the Nizamabad seat in Azamgarh since 1996 and won it four times (barring 2007). The Samajwadi Party’s third list has nine Muslim candidates, including Alambadi.

Samajwadi Party MLAs Nafeesh Ahmed, Alambadi, Sangram Singh Yadav, Shailendra Singh Lalai, Ram Govind Chaudhary, Arvind Singh Gope, Virendra Yadav and Ashutosh Upadhya will attempt to enter the Vidhan Sabha again as the SP candidates.

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The late Yashpal Chaudhary’s son Varun Chaudhary is the Samajwadi Party candidate from Dharhaura. Former UP assembly speaker the late Sukhdev Rajbhar’s son Kamalkant Rajbhar is the candidate from Didarganj, Sukhdev Rajbhar’s seat. Sukhdev Rajbhar had quit the BSP and joined SP shortly before his death. Former Union minister the late Beni Prasad Verma’s son Rakesh Verma is the candidate for the Kursi seat.