The Samajwadi Party on Friday released a list of six candidates for the Lok Sabha polls in Uttar Pradesh, fielding party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav from its stronghold Mainpuri.
Samajwadi Party releases first list of 6 candidates for Lok Sabha polls. Mulayam Singh Yadav to contest from Mainpuri. pic.twitter.com/KUiQdNIOjR
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The party also announced that Dimple Yadav, wife of Akhilesh, will contest from Kannauj. The announcement came as a bit of a surprise given that Akhilesh had, as reported by Times of India in June 2018, said that he was not a pariwaarwadi and that Dimple would not contest from Kannauj. It was announced that Akhilesh himself would contest from the seat.
Dharmendra Yadav will contest from Badaun, Akshay Yadav from Firozabad, Kamlesh Katheria from Etawah, Bhailal Kol from Robertsganj and Shabbir Valmiki from Bahraich, the party announced.
The list was signed by SP national chief general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav.
The party left Mainpuri, described as its "safest" seat, for Mulayam Yadav, who is MP from Azamgarh right now.
He represented Mainpuri in the Lok Sabha in 1996, 2004 and 2009. In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Mulayam Yadav contested from Azamgarh and Mainpuri and won both.
In Mainpuri, his victory margin was a massive 3.64 lakh votes.
