SP to Contest Mainpuri Lok Sabha, Rampur Sadar Assembly Byelections, RLD to Run from Khatauli

GG News Bureau

Lucknow, 10th Nov. The Samajwadi Party announced on Wednesday that it will run in the byelections for Mainpuri Lok Sabha, Rampur Sadar, and Khatauli Assembly seats alongside ally Rashtriya Lok Dal.

Following the death of Samajwadi Party (SP) patron Mulayam Singh Yadav, the Mainpuri parliamentary seat became vacant. The Rampur Sadar and Khatauli Assembly seats were vacated following the disqualification of SP’s Azam Khan and BJP’s Vikram Saini, who were both convicted in separate cases.

“While (the) SP will field its candidate in Rampur Assembly and Mainpuri parliamentary constituencies, (the) RLD candidate will contest from Khatauli,” the party stated on its official Twitter handle.

The byelections will be held on December 5 and the results will be announced on December 8. However, the Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the Election Commission of India not to issue the notification for the Rampur Sadar bypoll until Thursday.

RLD chief Jayant Chaudhary has already stated that his party’s alliance with the SP will be maintained.

“Whether it is a big or small election, our alliance with (the) SP will continue. We had contested the Khatauli seat earlier and we have got another chance. Our workers will support SP candidates in Rampur and Mainpuri,” Chaudhary had said when asked about the RLD-SP alliance in local body polls.

Akhilesh Yadav met with senior leaders at the SP headquarters on Wednesday to discuss the candidates for Mainpuri and Rampur, a leader said here.

According to political sources, while Tej Pratap Yadav and Dharmendra Yadav are potential candidates from Mainpuri, Khan’s choice for the party nominee in Rampur.

Khan represented Rampur Sadar in the Assembly ten times, while his wife Tazeen Fatima won the seat once. Rampur Sadar, a Muslim-majority seat, has never been won by the BJP. However, a victory in the recent Lok Sabha byelections in Rampur, the parliamentary constituency in which Rampur Sadar is located, gives it hope of bucking the trend.

Though the results of the two Assembly elections and the lone Lok Sabha seat will have an impact on the governments at the Centre and in the state where the BJP has a comfortable majority, a victory would provide the victor with a psychological advantage in the run-up to the 2024 General Elections.

The BJP has already wrested the Lok Sabha seats of Azamgarh and Rampur from the SP, and a victory in Mainpuri and Rampur Sadar would give the party a boost in its quest to win all 80 parliamentary seats in politically significant Uttar Pradesh.

The role of Pragatisheel Samaj Party chief and Akhilesh Yadav’s uncle Shivpal Singh Yadav will also be highlighted in Mainpuri.

He supported the BJP in the presidential elections, but the famous “chacha-bhatija” pair was seen together in the aftermath of Mulayam Singh Yadav’s death, sparking speculation of a reconciliation.

The SP-RLD alliance will be put to the test in Khatauli, Uttar Pradesh. The prestige of new state unit chief Bhupendra Chaudhary will be at stake for the BJP. Chaudhary, a Jat, is from an area where the RLD has a strong following.