News Brief
Akhilesh Yadav Might Contest Lok Sabha Elections From Kannauj, Says Report; Here's Brief Background Of This SP Bastion
Akhilesh Yadav, Samajwadi Party President
Samajwadi Party (SP) national president Akhilesh Yadav might contest the Lok Sabha elections from Kannauj, a constituency he represented from 2000 to 2012.
According to Live Hindustan, Yadav is going to Kannauj tomorrow (18 April) to make the announcement and might file the nomination papers on 23 April.
On being asked about contesting from Kannauj, Yadav said, "I have more than two decades of relationship with Kannauj. This is my home, I can't leave it."
He left this seat to become Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister in 2012 and passed on the baton to his wife Dimple Yadav, who represented the seat from 2012 to 2019.
However, she lost the 2019 elections from here against Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Subrat Pathak, who is the BJP candidate this time also.
While Dimple Yadav went on to win Mainpuri by-polls in 2022 and is again contesting from there, Akhilesh Yadav might be fielded from Kannauj.
Meanwhile, the Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) changed its Kannauj candidate earlier this month after declaring Akeel Ahmad's name in March.
Ahmad's ticket was cut on the suspicion that he was close to Akhilesh Yadav. The BSP has now fielded another Muslim leader Imran Bin Zafar from here.
SP sources say that the party is delaying the announcement of Akhilesh Yadav's Kannauj candidature to avoid focusing all its resources on a single constituency.
Moreover, there are rumours that the grandson of late SP founder Mulayam Singh Yadav's brother Ranveer Singh, Tej Pratap Singh can be fielded from here.
However, rumours around Tej Pratap's candidature emerged in Rampur as well but Maulana Nadvi was given a ticket there despite Azam Khan's opposition.
Kannauj is considered to be a SP bastion as the party held this seat for over two decades from 1998 to 2019. However, the BJP was able to break into it in 2019.
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