Mainpuri Bypolls: Samajwadi Party fields Dimple Yadav as its candidate
Mainpuri has always been an SP bastion. It was from here that Mulayam Yadav was first elected an MP in 1996. He successfully contested the seat three more times—2004, 2009 and 2019
The Samajwadi Party (SP) on Thursday declared Dimple Yadav, wife of SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, the candidate for the crucial Mainpuri Lok Sabha bypolls.
Bypolls to the Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat, which fell vacant following the death of SP founder and leader Mulayam Singh Yadav will be held on Dec 5 and the results on Dec 8.
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Mainpuri has always been an SP bastion. It was from here that Mulayam Yadav was first elected an MP in 1996. He successfully contested the seat three more times—2004, 2009 and 2019.
Dimple, the former Kannauj MP, will contest the seat in an attempt to inherit the seat from her father-in-law.
Many names, including that of former Mainpuri MP Tej Pratap (grandnephew of Mulayam), Akhilesh’s cousin Dharmendra Yadav, and Dimple, were being speculated while Tej being the frontrunner.
On Wednesday, SP appointed Alok Shakya, former UP minister, as the district president to lead the party outfit in the district for the bypolls.
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Shakya is the second dominant caste in the Mainpuri Lok Sabha constituency after the Yadav. Of the total 17.4 lakh electorate in Mainpuri LS, there are an estimated seven lakh Yadavs, while Shakyas are roughly three lakh.
Dimple has the challenging task to retain Mulayam’s seat for SP. The BJP, who is yet to announce its candidate for the crucial seat, has made its intentions clear to win Mainpuri after it won the two other LS citadels of SP–Azamgarh and Rampur early this year in bypolls.
SP had faced defeat and embarrassment when early this year, it lost its both Azamgarh and Rampur Lok Sabha constituencies to the BJP in bypolls.