The Samajwadi Party on Monday released a list of 159 candidates for the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls, fielding party chief Akhilesh Yadav from Karhal in Mainpuri district, jailed leader Azam Khan from Rampur and re-nominating party MLA Nahid Hasan from Kairana.
Former state minister Dharam Singh Saini, who crossed over to the SP a few days ago, has been named as the party’s nominee from Nakur in Saharanpur district.The Samajwadi Party had last week said that former Congress leader Imran Masood, who had also joined the SP, extended his support to Saini’s candidature amid reports about his resentment over denial of ticket to him.The party has fielded jailed leader Azam Khan from his traditional Rampur seat while his son Abdullah Azam has been made the party candidate from Suar Tanda.Shivpal Yadav, who is the uncle of Akhilesh Yadav, has been declared the party candidate from the family bastion of Jaswantnagar in Etawah district.
Akhilesh Yadav will contest from Karhal in Mainpuri district and Nahid Hasan from Kairana. Among the turncoats, who got the SP ticket, are Brijesh Prajapati (Tindwari in Banda) and Roshan Lal Verma (Tilhar in Shahjahanpur).Bhagwati Sagar has been fielded from Ghatampur seat. Bhagwati Sagar was the sitting BJP MLA from Bilhaur Assembly constituency in Kanpur.Supriya Aron, who recently parted ways with the Congress, has been named as the party candidate from Bareilly Cantt.The Congress had already named her as the party’s candidate from there. From Hardoi, the party has fielded Anil Verma, after its sitting MLA Nitin Agarwal has been named as the BJP candidate from the same seat.Nitin Agarwal is currently the Deputy Speaker of UP Legislative Assembly.The SP also decided to field its sitting MLA Manoj Pandey from Unchahar.
There were reports in social media that Utkrisht Maurya, son of Swami Prasad Maurya, may be fielded as the party candidate from that seat.This is the first official list of party candidates released by the Samajwadi Party.Earlier, the party was making phone calls directly to the candidates who were finalised for the elections.Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh will be held in seven phases between February 10 and March 7 and the results will be announced on March 10.Meanwhile, taking a jibe at the SP’s list of candidates, UP Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya said, “The list is new but there are the same criminals. The list of the SP exposes its character. The SP has insulted the people of UP on the occasion of UP Diwas. It has shown its intention by giving tickets to rapists on National Girl Child Day.
