The Samajwadi Party announced a fresh list of 24 candidates for the upcoming seven-phased assembly elections starting February 10.
The party pitted Sabhawati Shukla against Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath from Gorakhpur Sadar assembly constituency. Sabhawati Shukla is the widow of Upendra Shukla, who was BJP candidate in the by-election to Gorakhpur in March 2018, which the BJP lost to Samajwadi Party.
Yogi Adityanath, who recently filed his nomination papers from the Gorakhpur Sadar seat in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, has sought a massive mandate for the BJP again citing development, good governance and nationalism during his campaign.
This is the first time that Yogi Adityanath is contesting the assembly election. He has however represented Gorakhpur in Parliament five times.
This is also the first assembly election for SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, who has entered the fray from Karhal assembly seat in Mainpuri.
The SP has fielded Saurabh Singh from Pratapgarh, Ansar Ahmed from Allahabad and Kaushal Singh from Maharajganj.
Akhilesh Yadav (not Samajwadi Party president) will be SP candidate from Mubarakpur in Azamgarh. He had contested the election as SP candidate in 2012 and 2017 too.
Traiyambak Pathak will contest from Hariyya assembly seat in Basti and Pradeep Yadav from Deoria.
The elections to UP assembly will be held in seven phases commencing from February 10 and concluding on March 7. The counting of votes will be taken up on March 10.