Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav announced that he will contest his first ever Uttar Pradesh assembly polls from the seat of Karhal in Mainpuri. His name was among the first list of SP candidates released on Saturday.
Mainpuri has traditionally been a Samajwadi Party stronghold. SP founder Mulayam Singh Yadav represents the Mainpuri constituency in parliament. In 2017 assembly polls, SP candidate Sobran Yadav had secured 1.04 lakh votes from Karhal, defeating the BJP's Prem Shakya by 38,405 votes.
The BJP had earlier said it's a "misconception" of the SP chief that Mainpuri is a "safe seat" for him. "And we will clear it," BJP spokesperson Rakesh Tripathi said. "In Lok Sabha polls, his father Mulayam Singh Yadav could somehow win after the appeal of BSP chief Mayawati. This time, the BJP will puncture his cycle in Karhal (Mainpuri) so that he could not take expressway to reach Lucknow," Tripathi said.
The Karhal seat goes to polls on February 20, the third phase of voting.
This is going to be Yadav's first assembly election as a candidate. When he was the chief minister between 2012 and 17, he had taken the Legislative Council route.
