Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav.
Credit: PTI Photo
Lucknow: After its shock defeat in the Haryana assembly elections, Congress was jolted in Uttar Pradesh also after the Samajwadi Party (SP), a member of grand I.N.D.I.A. alliance, on Wednesday declared its candidates on six of the ten assembly seats going to the bypolls.
The SP declared candidates from Milkipur, Sisamau, Manjhawa, Phulpur, Katehri and Karhal assembly seats.
The SP has fielded Ayodhya MP Awadhesh Prasad’s son Ajeet Prasad from Milkipur while party president Akhilesh Yadav’s nephew Tej Pratap Yadav has been fielded from Karahal seat in Mainpuri district. Akhilesh, who had won the seat in 2022 assembly elections, had resigned from the seat after being elected from Kannauj Lok Sabha seat.
According to the sources in the SP, the party would take a decision on the remaining four assembly seats in the next few days.
The SP would soon declare its candidates from Kundarki and Meerapur assembly seats, a senior party leader here said.
The decision by the SP to declare its nominees came as a jolt to the Congress, which had demanded five seats from the party. ‘’Congress wanted Phulpur and Manjawa seats,’’ said the SP leader.
Sources said that the SP might leave Ghaziabad and Khair assembly seats for the Congress. These seats were considered to be BJP strongholds.
The SP leader, however, claimed that everything was well in the Congress-SP alliance and that the two parties would go to the assembly by-polls together. ‘’We will contest the assembly by-polls in alliance and win all the seats,’’ he added.
A state Congress leader here, however, said that Akhilesh should have consulted the senior leaders of the grand old party before declaring the nominees.
By-elections are set to be held in 10 assembly seats of the state -- Katehari (Ambedkar Nagar), Karhal (Mainpuri), Milkipur (Ayodhya), Meerapur (Muzaffarnagar), Ghaziabad, Majhawan (Mirzapur), Sisamau (Kanpur city), Khair (Aligarh), Phulpur (Prayagraj) and Kundarki (Moradabad).