india

Updated: Mar 08, 2019 22:08 IST

Veteran politician Mulayam Singh Yadav , chief patron of the Samajwadi Party (SP), will run for election to the Lok Sabha from Uttar Pradesh’s Mainpuri— a constituency he has represented three times in the past. His elder daughter-in-law Dimple Yadav will seek re-election from Kannauj.

The SP on Friday morning released its list of candidates for six Lok Sabha seats — three general and three reserved — for the elections that are expected to be notified this weekend or early next week. Later in the evening, “on the occasion of Women’s Day”, the party’s national president Akhilesh Yadav announced the names of three woman candidates, including his wife Dimple Yadav.

Of the nine seats, four will be contested by Yadav family members. Apart from Mulayam Singh and Dimple, Dharmendra Yadav will be in the fray in Badaun and Akshaya Yadav in Firozabad. Both Dharmendra and Akshaya are cousins of Akhilesh Yadav

Kamlesh Katheria will contest the Etawah reserved seat and Bhailal Kol is being fielded in Robertsganj, another reserved seat. Shabbir Balmiki will try his luck in Bahraich. Usha Verma will contest the Hardoi reserved seat and Purvi Verma the Kheri seat.

The lists were released a day after the Congress unveiled its first slate of candidates, including party president Rahul Gandhi and United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi — both of whom will be seeking re-election from their traditional bastions of Amethi and Rae Bareili, respectively.

SP national general secretary Ramgopal Yadav released the first list in the party’s Delhi office on Friday morning and Akhilesh announced the second one. The speculation over whether Mulayam Singh Yadav and Dimple Yadav will contest the general elections was put to rest with both figuring among the first candidates.

Mulayam’s brother Shivpal Yadav, president of the Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia), has been talking about fielding Mulayam from Mainpuri as a candidate of his party. On Thursday night, Mulayam had expressed displeasure over the SP delaying an announcement of its candidates for the general elections, which the party is fighting in an alliance with Bahujan Samaj Party.

On Dimple Yadav contesting the polls, Akhilesh had been making contradictory statements. With Dimple chosen to contest Kannauj, speculation is that Akhilesh may contest the Azamgarh seat — Mulayam’s present constituency. Mulayam won election from both Mainpuri and Azamgarh in 2014, but opted to retain the latter.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won an overwhelming mandate from Uttar Pradesh in the 2014 elections to the Lok Sabha, emerging victorious in 71 of the 80 seats in the state.The SP won five seats; the BSP could not open its account.

Reacting to Friday’s announcement by the SP, BJP spokesperson Chandramohan said: “The list makes it clear that Samajwadi Party is the party of a family. Looks like they won’t be able to contest much beyond these few family seats.”

S K Dwivedi, a political analyst, said: “It is good that they marked the Women’s Day by declaring three women candidates... parties should reserve 33% tickets for women. Apart from this, there is a clear stamp of Yadav family in SP’s lists declared today. They could have given the Mainpuri seat to some new face and should have retired Mulayam.”