Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav  |  Photo Credit: PTI
Key Highlights
- The party is yet to decide the constituency from where Yadav would be fielded
- This will be the first time Yadav will contest any Assembly election
- Elections will be held in Uttar Pradesh in seven phases starting February 10
Lucknow: Samajwadi Party chief and Lok Sabha MP from Azamgarh Akhilesh Yadav is likely to contest the next month’s Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.
Yadav will contest the upcoming Assembly elections in the state, a party source was quoted as saying by news agency ANI on Wednesday.
The SP president had earlier said that he would not fight the upcoming Assembly polls in the state and would focus on his party’s campaign.
Though the party is yet to decide the constituency from where Yadav would be fielded, reports suggest that he is likely to contest from Gopalpur in Azamgarh district.
Elections will be held in Uttar Pradesh in seven phases on February 10, 14, 20, 23, 27, March 3 and 7 to elect the 403 members of the state Assembly. The results will be announced on March 10.
This will be the first time Yadav will contest any Assembly election.
Reports of SP chief contesting the election come days after the BJP announced that Yogi Adityanath, the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, will contest the upcoming polls for the first time.
Adityanath will contest the election in the state from his home turf Gorakhpur, which he has represented in Lok Sabha multiple times till 2017.
In 2012, Akhilesh Yadav, at the age of 38, became the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, the youngest to hold the office, after the Samajwadi Party’s emphatic win in Uttar Pradesh. Yadav, who was a Lok Sabha MP from Kannauj back then, resigned from the parliamentary seat to further serve as the CM.