SP chief Akhilesh Yadav makes Karhal poll fray entry official

Karhal is scheduled to go to the polls on February 20 in the third phase of the seven-phase UP assembly elections.

The Samajwadi Party (SP) on Saturday announced that party chief Akhilesh Yadav will contest his first Uttar Pradesh assembly election from the party’s stronghold of Karhal in Mainpuri.

Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav addresses a press conference in presence of party General Secretary Ram Gopal Yadav(L) and former Congress MP Praveen Singh Aron who joined the party, at the party office, in Lucknow on Saturday. (Pramod Adhikari)

“Our national president Akhilesh Yadav will contest the Karhal assembly constituency in Mainpuri, and he will win with a massive mandate,” SP chief national general secretary Ramgopal Yadav announced at a press conference in Lucknow, where Akhilesh Yadav was also present.

On January 20, SP national spokesperson Ashutosh Verma spoke of Akhilesh Yadav contesting his first UP assembly election from Karhal, but said a formal announcement would follow.

Ever since speculation on chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s candidature for the assembly polls surfaced, there has been talk about Akhilesh Yadav contesting as well. On January 15, the BJP named Yogi Adityanath the party’s candidate for the Gorakhpur urban seat in eastern UP.

While Yogi Adityanath is a five-time former Gorakhpur MP, Akhilesh Yadav is the sitting Azamgarh MP. They have never contested assembly elections before. Both took the Vidhan Parishad route to become members of the UP legislature after they took office as chief ministers in 2012 and 2017

Meanwhile, Akhilesh Yadav made more poll promises at the press conference.

“The Samajwadi Party has taken more decisions for the public after we made (promises about) 300 units free power to domestic consumers, and free laptops to students. The SP will create 22 lakh direct employment in the sector in UP in the Samajwadi Party’s Rozgaar Sankalp, when the SP forms the government in 2022,” he said.

Karhal is scheduled to go to the polls on February 20 in the third phase of the seven-phase UP assembly elections and Gorakhpur in the sixth phase on March 3.

Karhal has been a Samajwadi Party stronghold since 1993, with only one exception. In the 2002 assembly election, the seat went to the BJP.

The sitting Karhal MLA Sobaran Singh Yadav was with the BJP when he won the seat in 2002. Since 2007, he has been contesting the same seat on an SP ticket. Mainpuri, which includes the Karhal assembly segment, is SP chief patron Mulayam Singh Yadav’s Lok Sabha constituency.