Lucknow: After Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's decision to contest assembly election from Gorakhpur, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav too has decided to enter the fray.
On Monday, SP announced list of 159 candidates for the UP assembly polls which includes party bigwigs Akhilesh Yadav, Azam Khan and Shivpal Yadav. Akhilesh Yadav would contest from Karhal assembly seat in Mainpuri district. This is the first time Akhilesh Yadav would be contesting assembly elections.
Earlier BJP had announced the name of CM Yogi as party candidate from Gorakhpur. Ever since then it was said that Akhilesh Yadav too might enter the fray and contest assembly election.
Azam Khan who is currently lodged in jail would be SP candidate from Rampur city seat. He is presently member of parliament from Rampur. Azam's wife Tazeen is currently a legislator from Rampur seat. In the list, party has also announced the name of Shivpal Yadav from Jaswantnagar seat. Shivpal Yadav is uncle of Akhilesh but had parted ways from SP in 2018 and floated his own party in the name of Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party Lohiya (PSPL). However, he forged alliance with SP in December last year.
According to SP leaders, the party has finalized the name of candidates for the first three phases of UP polls while a few names on the seats of fourth and fifth phases have also been announced. Among SP allies the party has so far given 30 seats to Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) and one each to Suheldev Rajbhar Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP) and PSPL.
Among other prominent faces figured in SP list are former minister Manoj Pandey from Unchahar, Raibareli and Supriya Aron from Bareilly city. Supriya Aron was earlier announced as Congress candidate from the same seat but she joined SP last week.
