UP Polls: Akhilesh Likely to Contest from Mainpuri’s Karhal, an SP Bastion Since 20 Yrs

Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav will contest the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections 2022 from Mainpuri district’s Karhal seat, according to party sources. The Karhal seat falls in the Yadav belt of Central UP. The BJP had last won the seat two decades ago and since then, it has been an SP fortress. Akhilesh’s father and SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav is the current MP from Mainpuri.

The seat was finalised after the SP national president held a meeting with district chief Devendra Yadav, MLC Arvind Yadav and Karhal MLA Sovran Singh at the party headquarters in Lucknow. This will mark Akhilesh’s debut in the state assembly polls. He currently represents Azamgarh in the Parliament. In 2012, when Yadav had become the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, he was elected to Legislative Council. Since 1993, the SP has won this seat seven times, while the BJP had bagged the seat in the 2002 assembly polls.

Karhal, which is one of the five assembly constituencies in the Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat, will go for voting on February 20 and the nomination for this seat will start from January 25. Uttar Pradesh assembly elections will be held in seven phases from February 10 till March 7. The counting will take place on March 10.

Though an official announcement in this regard is awaited, sources said a formal announcement may be made tomorrow by the party. Sources also added that Akhilesh’s cousin Tej Pratap could be appointed as the in-charge of the Karhal seat.

Why Karhal is favourable for SP

The caste arithmetic on the Karhal seat, as per SP sources, is favourable for the party as it consists of around 1.5 lakh Yadav voters, which are considered the traditional vote bank of SP. The seat also houses around 14,000 Muslims and 34,000 Shakya community voters making things more favourable for the Samajwadi Party. Earlier on Wednesday, there were speculations about Akhilesh Yadav may contest from the Gopalpur assembly seat of Azamgarh.

On Wednesday, the SP chief had said that he will seek permission from the people of Azamgarh if he decides to contest the Uttar Pradesh elections. “I will take the permission of the people in Azamgarh and then contest the elections from there,” he had said at a press conference.

Meanwhile reacting to the development, UP BJP Spokesperson, Rakesh Tripathi said, “If Akhilesh ji thinks that Mainpuri is safe for him then it is his misunderstanding. His father had barely won in the 2019 elections after an appeal from BSP chief Mayawati, while more than 50 MPs of BJP had won with more than one lakh margin. The BJP will puncture his bicycle in Mainpuri itself so that he can’t get on the Expressway and reach Lucknow.”

(With inputs from Qazi Faraz Ahmad)

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