The Samajwadi Party on Monday, 24 January, made additions to their list of candidates for the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections. The party has announced another 159 candidates for the upcoming polls.
Among the most prominent faces in the list are party chief Akhilesh Yadav, contesting from Karhal, and former BJP minister Dharam Singh Saini, who is slated to contest from Nakur.
Further, senior leader and previously jailed MP Azam Khan and his son Abdullah Azam Khan will contest from the Rampur and Suar seats, respectively.
In the previous polls, Abdullah Azam was elected from Suar, but the Allahabad High Court had cancelled his election on the grounds that he was under 25 at the time of filing his nomination. His case has since been pending in the Supreme Court, and the Suar seat has remained vacant.
Meanwhile, Congress defector Supriya Aron has been named the candidate in Bareilly Cantt.
As per the list, Nahid Hasan will be contesting from the Kairana seat and Shivpal Singh Yadav will contest from Jaswantnagar.
Though previous reports had suggested that the SP would not name a candidate from the Unnao seat, the party nominated Dr Abhinav Kumar as the candidate in the constituency.
Ashu Malik, an associate of Mulayam Singh Yadav, will be contesting from Saharanpur Dehat, and former BSP MLA Yogesh Varma has been given the Hastinapur ticket.
Other names in the list include Shahid Manzoor from Kithor, and Bhagwat Saran Gangwar from Nawabganj.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)