Samajwadi Party (SP) President Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday filed his nomination papers from Kannauj parliamentary seat.
Party sources said Akhilesh filed his nomination in four seats in the presence of Chief National General Secretary Prof Ram Gopal Yadav, district President Kaleem Khan, former MLA Kalyan Singh Dohre, and state Secretary Akash Shakya.
Meanwhile, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate and sitting MP Subrat Pathak also filed his nomination papers.
Talking to the reporters after filing his nomination, Akhilesh said that it was the emotion of the party workers, leaders, and the public that he should contest from Kannauj. “I express their gratitude and hope to get blessings from the people of Kannauj. When I came to contest from Kannauj for the first time it was Netaji (Mulayam Singh Yadav) who decided that I should contest from here,” he said.
He said that he hopes this election will end negative politics in the country. “Fragrance which has been the identity of Kannauj will return. The place had a glorious history for the development works done here,” he said.
It may be noted that initially, SP fielded Tej Pratap Singh Yadav, nephew of the SP chief, merely two days back. However, there was strong sentiment among the party leaders and workers that Akhilesh should contest this seat.
It may be noted that Akhilesh first contested from Kannauj seat in the by-election held in 2000 after his father and SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav resigned from Lok Sabha after taking over as the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh.
Akhilesh held the seat for two consecutive terms 2004 and 2009. In 2012 he vacated the seat after taking over as the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. In the 2012 by-poll Akhilesh’s wife Dimple Yadav won unopposed from Kannauj. She once again won from Kannauj in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
In 2019 BJP breached the SP’s fort when party candidate Subrat Pathak defeated Dimple by a margin of more than 12,000 votes.
