The Samajwadi Party (SP) on Monday released a fresh list of 24 candidates for the upcoming seven-phased Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections beginning on February 10. In the list, Akhilesh Yadav's name is written adjacent to the Mubarakpur seat. However, this is not SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, he is his namesake who is the party's former district president from Azamgarh. Besdies, SP has named Sabhawati Shukla against Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath from Gorakhpur (Urban) Assembly constituency.
Check out the list below:
Meanwhile, the SP chief is contesting elections from Karhal. It is considered to be a Samajwadi bastion and since 1993, the SP has never lost the election here. However, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has ensured that it is no cakewalk for the former chief minister by fielding Union Minister S.P. Singh Baghel from here.
The BJP candidate, S.P. Singh Baghel, 61, will be challenging a member of the Yadav family for the third time in the electoral battle from Karhal. He has unsuccessfully contested against Akhilesh Yadav in 2009, Dimple Yadav in 2009 (bypoll) and Akshay Yadav in 2014 from Firozabad. Baghel, incidentally was in the security of Mulayam Singh Yadav when he was sub-inspector with the Uttar Pradesh Police and it was Mulayam who had ushered him into politics.
