Lok Sabha Elections: Will Akhilesh Yadav Reclaim SP's Stronghold Kannauj This Time?

Lok Sabha Results: Kannauj seat has been Yadav family's bastion since 1999 held by Mulayam Singh Yadav, Akhilesh Yadav, and Dimple Yadav.

Lok Sabha Result: Stakes are high for Samajwadi Party in Kannauj as Akhilesh Yadav tries to reclaim bastion. ( Image Source :PTI )

Lok Sabha Results: One of the crucial seats in Uttar Pradesh on which all eyes are set ahead of the Lok Sabha elections results is the Samajwadi Party stronghold Kannauj constituency. The seat, which has been a Yadav family bastion, since 1998 went to the BJP's fold for the first time after Subrat Pathak won the constituency in 2019, defeating Dimple Yadav.

In a bid to reclaim the seat and make a comeback in Lok Sabha, party supremo Akhilesh Yadav is testing his electoral fate from this seat which came after a last minute rejig.  

Akhilesh's nephew, Tej Pratap Yadav was earlier given the party ticket from his seat, but later the former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister took the front seat following dissatisfaction by party workers who had advocated that the SP supremo to contest from here. 

The SP had set its foot on the seat with Pradeep Yadav's win in 1998 after which the party patriarch, Mulayam Singh Yadav won this seat in 1999 and held it for three terms. Akhilesh Yadav had won this seat three times in a row in 2000, 2004, and 2009 Lok Sabha elections while Dimple Yadav bagged the seat in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. 

Akhilesh stepped down from the seat in 2012 to become the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. 

The party's decision to field Akhilesh from Kannauj may yield results as pollsters predict that the SP chief could have an edge over Pathak, who had won in 2019 against Dimple Yadav with a slim margin of 12,000 votes, according to the India Today-Axis My India exit poll. 

Voting in Kannauj took place in the fourth phase of the Lok Sabha polls on May 13 with just over 59 per cent of voting. 

The BJP has, however, a strong chance of a clean sweep in the state again even as the SP and Congress joined forces against the saffron party. 

As per ABP News-CVoter exit polls, the opposition I.N.D.I.A bloc is likely to win anywhere between 15 and 17 seats with a vote share of 36.9%, while the BJP-led NDA is predicted to win 62-66 seats with 44.1% of the votes in its favour.