The Samajwadi Party is likely to field former Kannauj MP Dimple Yadav as its candidate from Azamgarh Lok Sabha seat which fell vacant after her husband and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav resigned from the Lok Sabha on Tuesday. Akhilesh has been elected to the UP Assembly from Karhal Assembly seat in Mainpuri.
Samajwadi Party sources said that the by-poll to Azamgarh Lok Sabha seat was likely to be held in the next six months. They said that the party will also have to take a call for deciding the candidate for Rampur Lok Sabha seat which has fallen vacant due to the resignation by MP Azam Khan, who was elected to UP assembly from Rampur during the recently concluded state elections.
Akhilesh had visited Azamgarh on March 21 and consulted party MLAs and district leaders before resigning from Lok Sabha. Though the Samajwadi Party won all 10 Assembly seats in Azamgarh, it faced a tough challenge from the BJP, which finished second in all these seats.
Meanwhile, SP ally Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) has demanded that SP leader Dimple Yadav be fielded from Azamgarh Lok Sabha seat vacated after the SP chief's resignation.
"Akhilesh Yadav’s resignation as Azamgarh MP is a welcome move. His presence in the UP assembly is necessary for a strong role of the opposition to counter the BJP in the state. In the assembly, SP-SBSP alliance MLAs will raise all important issues related to people," commented SBSP president, Om Prakash Rajbhar on Wednesday.
Rajbhar further said that Azamgarh has been known as a stronghold of SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav, who was elected from this Lok Sabha seat in 2014. In 2019, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav was elected MP and worked for the development of Azamgarh. As a result, the Samajwadi Party won all 10 Assembly seats in the recently concluded state elections.
"As an ally of the SP, we (the SBSP) demand that SP leader Dimple Yadav be fielded from the Azamgarh Parliamentary seat whenever by-elections are held there. It would help strengthen the SP and its allies in the entire Purvanchal region," he added.