What Akhilesh Yadav said on contesting Lok Sabha polls from Kannuaj

NEW DELHI: Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday dropped hints indicating that he might contest the Lok Sabha polls from Kannuj, which is considered the party's stronghold.

Currently, the SP has fielded Akhilesh's nephew Tej Pratap Yadav from Kannauj. Tej Pratap is the grandson of Ratan Singh, brother of party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav .

When asked whether he will contest from the seat or Tej Pratap will remain the party's candidate, Yadav told reporters, "See, when there are nominations, you will get to know. Maybe you will get to know before nominations also."

"The question is of Kannauj's historic victory...The people have made up their minds that the INDIA Alliance is coming as the future and BJP will be history in this election," said the ex-UP chief minister.

The speculation that there could be a change in the Kannuaj candidature started gaining ground after the date of nomination filing was postponed from April 24 to April 25.

Akhilesh Yadav dropped the hint days after a delegation of Samajwadi Party leaders from Kannauj visited him to urge him to contest the 2024 Lok Sabha from Kannauj.

Kannauj Lok Sabha seat has backed SP’s first family for six consecutive elections starting from 1999 when voters elected Mulayam as their MP. In the 2000 bypoll, Akhilesh Yadav made his debut from Kannauj and was re-elected in the 2004 and 2009 general elections.

Mulayam’s badi bahu Dimple Yadav was elected MP from the seat twice – in 2012 and 2014.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, BJP’s Subrat Pathak defeated Dimple Yadav by a margin of 12,353 votes. In 2024, SP is trying to regain the seat and party strategists are hopeful that Akhilesh can comfortably sail through.

Meanwhile, the BJP has repeated sitting MP Subrat Pathak from the Kannauj seat.

Akhilesh Yadav, who was an Azamgarh MP till 2022, chose to contest from the Karhal assembly seat of Mainpuri in the 2022 state polls. Akhilesh is currently an MLA from Karhal.