SP Chief Akhilesh Yadav To Contest UP Polls From Mainpuri's Karhal

The Karhal Assembly constituency has been the stronghold of the Yadav family.

SP Chief Akhilesh Yadav.

(Photo: PTI)

Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav will contest the upcoming Uttar Pradesh (UP) Assembly elections from the Karhal constituency in Mainpuri district, the party's national spokesperson Ashutosh Verma said on Thursday, 20 January, PTI reported.

This update comes amid the speculations of the SP leader contesting the elections from Azamgarh.

Yadav, who served as the chief minister of UP from 2012-17, is the youngest person to have held the chief minister's office in the state. This is the first time that he will be contesting polls.

Presently, Sobaran Yadav is the elected MLA from Karhal, which has been the stronghold of the Yadav family since 1993.

In November 2021, the SP supremo was reported as saying that he would not be contesting the next UP Assembly elections. However, a few days later, SP spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary had clarified that the party was going to take the final call.

The state of UP will go to polls in seven phases, starting 10 February and culminating on 7 March.

As the crucial elections approach, the SP has emerged as the most significant competitor of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the state. As many as 11 leaders, including three ministers, from the saffron party have defected to the SP in the past few days.