Ending speculation over Akhilesh Yadav contesting the Lok Sabha election, the Samajwadi Party on Monday declared Tej Pratap Yadav as its candidate from Kannauj parliamentary constituency.
The party also named Sanatan Pandey as its candidate from Ballia Lok Sabha seat.
Tej Pratap Yadav, who is a grandnephew of SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav and son-in-law of Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Lalu Prasad Yadav, had represented the Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat from 2014 to 2019. There was speculation that former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav could contest from the Kannauj constituency.
Earlier this month, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav had dropped a clear hint that he could contest the Lok Sabha election saying: “Let the auspicious day come... On Navratri day, you will get all the information... whosoever our workers in Kannauj want will be the face.”
Akhilesh made the comment in Kannauj after a workers’ rally in the constituency that marked his debut in parliament and initiation into politics in 2000. The SP leadership in Kannauj, the district outfit and workers had already been asking for over a year that Akhilesh contest the Lok Sabha poll again.
Kannauj is the only ‘Yadav clan’ constituency where the announcement of the candidate was awaited. In all other such constituencies like Mainpuri, Budaun, Azamgarh and Firozabad, the SP has announced candidates. Initially, there were speculations that Akhilesh might contest either from Azamgarh or Kannauj or both the constituencies.
Mohammad Azam Khan, the jailed SP leader and former Rampur MP, had earlier suggested to Akhilesh Yadav to contest from Rampur, when the SP chief met him in Sitapur jail. The SP chief declined and Maulana Mohibullah, the Imam of Delhi’s Parliament Street mosque, was announced as SP candidate from Rampur.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Kannauj witnessed a fiercely contested battle. This constituency witnessed a 60.81 per cent voter turnout in the year 2019. Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Subrat Pathak won the 2019 election with a victory margin of 12,353 votes, securing 5,63,087 votes. Subrat Pathak defeated Dimple Yadav of the SP, who got 5,50,734 votes.
