The Samajwadi Party (SP) put to rest the speculation about party chief Akhilesh Yadav contesting the upcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly election, confirming that he will be fielded from Karhal in Mainpuri. The announcement was made by SP national general secretary Ramgopal Yadav.
“I am making a formal official announcement now. Our national president Akhilesh Yadav will contest the Karhal assembly constituency in Mainpuri, and he will win with massive mandate,” Ramgopal Yadav said at a press conference where Akhilesh was also present.
Days ago, SP national spokesperson Ashutosh Verma had talked about Akhilesh contesting his first UP assembly election from Karhal, but said that a formal announcement will be made later.
Meanwhile, Akhilesh Yadav made more promises at the press conference if SP comes to power in Uttar Pradesh.
“Samajwadi Party has taken more decisions for public after we made 300 units free power to domestic consumers or free laptops to students. SP will create 22 lakh direct employment in IT sector in UP in Samajwadi Party’s Rozgaar Sankalp when the SP forms government in 2022,” he said.
He also announced that Praveen Singh Aron, former member of Parliament from Bareilly and its former mayor Supriya Aron have joined the Samajwadi Party. Rita Singh, who quit the Bharatiya Janata Party last month, also joined the SP today.
Akhilesh said that those joining the party will contest the state polls. He announced the candidature of Supriya Aron from Bareilly Cantonment and Rita Singh’s from Sandila.
Ever since speculations on chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s candidature for assembly polls surfaced, there were talks about Akhilesh too contesting the 2022 polls. Yogi Adityanath and Akhilesh Yadav had been MPs in the past, but they had never contested assembly elections. Both took the Vidhan Parishad route to become members of the UP legislature when they became chief ministers. Akhilesh is currently Azamgarh MP.
Karhal is scheduled to go to polls on February 20 in the third phase of seven-phased UP elections.
Karhal is a stronghold of the Samajwadi Party since 1993, with only one exception. In the 2002 election, the seat went to the BJP. The sitting MLA of Karhal is Sobaran Singh Yadav, who was with the BJP when he won the seat in 2002. Since 2007, he has been contesting from the seat on the SP ticket.
