SP takes lead, declares 210 candidates amidst confusion over pact with Congress

Shivpal Yadav will contest the elections from Jaswantnagar, the constituency sought for him by SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav.

SP leader Shivpal Yadav and UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav. | File Photo

LUCKNOW: With confusion prevailing over the nearly sealed pact with Congress, the ruling Samajwadi Party declared the names of 210 of 403 party candidates here on Friday.

The party released the first list of 191 of 209 candidates mainly from UP west for first three phases closely followed by the second of 19 candidates for the constituencies going to the polls in fifth phase of seven-phase UP Assembly elections commencing from February 11.

Releasing both the lists in quick succession, the Samajwadi Party fielded candidates on many of those seats also where Congress has sitting MLAs -- including the Mathura seat of CLP leader Pradeep Mathur. A step being seen much against the alliance dharma and a posturing by the SP to make Congress accept its offer In the lists declared on Friday, party has given tickets to 56 Muslim candidates, 23 Rajputs, 11 Brahmins and 39 Dalits.

Moreover, the party has decided to field 26 women among total 201 candidates declared so far. While former state unit chief of Samajwadi Party and senior minister Shivpal Yadav has got the ticket from his traditional Jaswant Nagar seat which he has been representing in UP Assembly since 1996, Akhilesh loyalist ministers Arvind Singh Gope and Pawan Pandey have got tickets from Ramnagar (Barabanki) and communally crucial Ayodhya respectively. Both Gope and Pandey are sitting SP MLAs from these two seats in the current Assembly. Moreover, Rakesh Verma, son of senior Samajwadi Party leader and member Rajya Sabha, Beni Verma, has been shifted to Kaisarganj after being replaced by Gope in Ramnagar.

However, Rakesh Verma has reportedly refused to contest from Kaisarganj on the pretext that he had already prepared a ground for himself in Ramnagar. Talking to the media persons after the announcement of the names of initial 191 party candidates, Samajwadi Party national vice president Kiranmoy Nanda said that Congress was offered 18 seats in the first three phases on the basis of the position of their candidates in the previous 2012 Assembly elections, however, he added that the alliance was not yet over. “SP is willing to spare 80 seats to Congress, now the call has to be taken by them,” he told the media persons. He went on to add that SP had offered 54 those seats to the grand old party where it had its sitting MLAs (28) or those who remained runner up in 2012. “Over and above this figure of 54, we can spare 20 more seats to them,” Nanda stated.

However, keeping the hopes for alliance alive, UPCC chief Raj Babbar said in Lucknow that the discussions over the pact were still on between the leaders of the two parties but he quickly added that the prestige of the party workers should not be compromised also while stitching up any tie-up. According to sources, as per the seat sharing formula, the Samajwadi Party has decided to field its candidates on all the Assembly seats in Amethi and leave one out of five in Rae Bareli for the Congress.

The two districts are known Congress bastions. On the issue of releasing the list apparently without keeping Congress in the loop, Nanda said in case of an alliance SP would withdraw and adjust candidates on seats that would go to Congress. Among the other prominent names in the list include Azam Khan’s son Abdullah Azam from Suar (Rampur), Azam Khan himself from his traditional Rampur seat.

While Naresh Agarwal’s son Nitin has been given ticket from Hardoi. However, mafia don-turn-politician Atiq Ahmad has been replaced by Mohammad Hassan Rumi on Kanpur Cantt seat. Atiq had on Thursday made it clear that he would not contest the ensuing elections as he did not want his taint to tarnish Akhilesh Yadav’s image. Though Akhilesh has made his reservations over fielding tainted faces with criminal credentials very often, party has given ticket to Vijay Singh, main accused in BJP leader Brahmdutt Dwivedi murder case, from Farrukhabad. Meanwhile, filing of nominations for the second phase of Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls on February 15 began on Friday, covering 67 constituencies spread over 11 districts in Muslim-dominated western UP. The nominations for the second phase will be filed till January 27.

Withdrawal of candidature could be done till February 1 and polling will be there on February 15. The main districts to be covered in the second phase are Saharanpur, Bijnor, Moradabad, Sambhal, Rampur, Bareilly, Amroha, Pilibhit, Kheri, Shahjahanpur and Badaun. This phase will witness over 2.28 crore voters exercising their franchise, including 1.04 women.

In the previous 2012 Assembly elections, of these 67 seats going to polls in the second phase on February 15, SP had walked away with majority 34 followed by BSP with 18 seats. BJP could get 10, Congress three while Peace Party and Ittehad-e-Millat Council won one seat each. Of the 12 reserved seats, SP had won nine and BSP secured the remaining three in 2012 while BJP scored a duck on these seats.