NEW DELHI: The Samajwadi Party (SP) on Wednesday released the names of six candidates for the upcoming Uttar Pradesh assembly bypolls without discussing with the INDIA bloc, which was constituted by the rival political parties of the BJP to present an alternative front in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
“Samajwadi Party has not discussed with INDIA alliance Coordination Committee nor were we taken into confidence (before releasing the names),” UP Congress in-charge Avinash Pandey told news agency ANI.
On the SP’s decision to release the list, party leader Ravidas Mehrotra said the six candidates have better chances of defeating BJP in the upcoming UP bypolls. Mehrotra further said that talks are under way with the Congress on the remaining four seats.
“In all the 6 seats, Samajwadi Party has been ahead of BJP in defeating them. On the remaining 4 seats, talks are underway with the Congress party and we are hopeful that we will form an alliance…If Congress had an alliance with SP and AAP in Haryana, then today INDIA alliance would have been in power in Haryana. Congress did not give a single seat to Samajwadi Party but gave the entire state to BJP. We want to defeat BJP in the by-elections in UP, so we have announced the list of 6 candidates,” he told news agency ANI.
The party has nominated Tej Pratap Yadav to contest from Karhal, the assembly seat vacated by Akhilesh Yadav after his election as an MP from Kannauj.
By-elections are scheduled later this year for 10 assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh, including Katehari (Ambedkar Nagar), Karhal (Mainpuri), Milkipur (Ayodhya), Meerapur (Muzaffarnagar), Ghaziabad, Majhawan (Mirzapur), Sisamau (Kanpur city), Khair (Aligarh), Phulpur (Prayagraj), and Kundarki (Moradabad).
Nine of these seats, excluding Sisamau, became vacant after their MLAs were elected to the Lok Sabha.
Ajit Prasad from Milkipur (Ayodhya): For the Milkipur seat, which was vacated by sitting Ayodhya MP Awadesh Prasad, the party has chosen his son, Ajit Prasad, as their candidate.
Mustafa Siddiqui from Phulpur (Prayagraj): The party has nominated Mustufa Siddiqui as their candidate from Phulpur, a seat that was previously thought to be reserved for the Congress, an INDIA bloc partner.
Naseem Solanki from Sisamau: The bypoll in Sisamau is being held after MLA Irfan Solanki’s disqualification after his conviction in a criminal case. SP has nominated MLA Irfan Solanki’s wife Naseem from this seat.
The party has fielded Shobhawai Verma and Jyodi Bind from the Katehari and Majhwan seats, respectively.
Interestingly, the development comes a day after the Congress, one of the prominent parties in the INDIA bloc, faced a massive setback in the Haryana assembly polls as it secured only 37 seats in the 90-member House, falling nine seats short of the majority mark.