The Samajwadi Party (SP) on Saturday, 22 January, announced that Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia) chief and former Uttar Pradesh minister Shivpal Yadav will be fielded as the party’s candidate from Jaswantnagar seat in the Etawah district and will contest on SP’s symbol.
The seat is currently held by Yadav, who won the 2017 elections defeating Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP’s) Manish Yadav Patre.
In 2017, Yadav, a five-time MLA from the seat for the SP, had managed to get 1.26 lakh votes (54.4 percent) against Patre, who got 74,218 votes.
Similarly in 2012, Yadav had won against Patre, who had then contested the poll on a Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) ticket.
SP’s official Twitter handle said in a tweet: “Shivpal Yadav will be SP and PSP alliance candidate from Jaswantnagar in Etawah district.”
Akhilesh Yadav’s uncle Shivpal Yadav had parted ways with the SP five years ago after a family feud and formed the PSP. Five years later, on 16 December, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav had met his uncle at the latter’s residence in Lucknow and announced that they will contest UP Assembly elections together.
'India’s Tallest Man' Joins SP
Meanwhile, Dharmendra Pratap Singh, who claims to be India's tallest man at a height of 8 ft 1 in, joined the SP on Saturday. Singh is just 11 cm shy of the world record.
The Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls will take place in seven phases between 10 February and 7 March. The counting of votes will be held on 10 March.
SP chief Akhilesh Yadav also announced on Saturday that he would contest from the Karhal seat in Mainpuri district, his family's home turf.
Meanwhile, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, will contest from his home turf of Gorakhpur.
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