LUCKNOW: FOUR members of the Samajwadi Party’s first family, including patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav and his daughter- in-law, Dimple Yadav, figure in the first two lists of nine candidates announced by the party on Friday. Mulayam will contest from his family seat, Mainpuri, and Dimple has been given Kannauj, which she won in 2014.
Two other members of the clan, Mulayam’s nephews Dharmendra Yadav and Akshay Yadav-sitting MPs from Badaun and Firozabad, respectively--have been fielded from the same constituencies.
Dimple’s candidature from Kannauj is surprising as her husband and SP chief Akhilesh Yadav had recently announced that he would contest from that seat. Dimple had won the seat in the 2012 bypoll too, after Akhilesh vacated it on taking over as Uttar Pradesh chief minister.
Greeting the women power of his party on International Women's Day, the SP chief tweeted the second list of three in the evening, comprising Dr Poorvi Verma, from the Kheri seat, Usha Verma, from Hardoi (reserved), and Dimple Yadav.
Mulayam Singh has represented Mainpuri four times in the Lok Sabha since 1996.
Candidates for Etawah, Robertsganj and Bahraich - all reserved -- were also announced on Friday. Kamlesh Katheria will contest in Etawah, Bhailal Kol has been fielded in Robertsganj, and Shabbir Balmiki will contest in Bahraich.
In 2014, Mulayam had contest from Azamgarh and Mainpuri. He retained Azamgarh and decided to vacate Mainpuri. His grand-nephew Tej Pratap Singh Yadav retained the seat for the party in the bypoll, trouncing his BJP rival by over three lakh votes.
Mainpuri is at the heart of the Yadav territory in central UP. Yadavs account for approximately 35 per cent of the 12.3 lakh voters, followed by Thakurs (Chauhan, Rathore, Bhadouriya), who make up 20 per cent of the electorate. The other dominant castes are the Shakya, Brahmins and Muslims.
With Mulayam set to contest from Mainpuri, sitting SP MP Tej Pratap, who is also the son-in-law of RJD chief Lalu Yadav, may be fielded from Sambhal in western UP.
Similarly, the Badaun seat has been represented by Dharmendra Yadav for the last three terms.
The contest in Firozabad may turn out to be a battle between uncle Shivpal Yadav and nephew Akshay, son of Ram Gopal Yadav, for the first time after the family feud resulted in split of the Yadav clan.
Shivpal, who floated his Pragatisheel Samjawadi Party -Lohia in October last year after leaving SP, had announced his candidature from Firozabad at a rally in the constituency recently.