Kairana bypoll: Akhilesh fields SP leader Tabassum Hassan on RLD ticket as joint opposition candidate

Samajwadi Party leader Tabassum Hassan is being made the joint candidate of opposition. Interestingly, the SP leader will contest election on the ticket of Rashtriya Lok Dal.

New Delhi: After his grand success in Phulpur and Gorakhpur by polls, Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav is apparently using the same formula of united opposition to crush BJP this time again in Kairana Lok Sabha by poll. Applying this formula, Samajwadi Party leader Tabassum Hassan is being made the joint candidate of opposition. Interestingly, the SP leader will contest election on the ticket of Rashtriya Lok Dal. Speculations were on since past couple of days over the name of opposition’s candidate for Kairana by-polls.  RLD chief Ajit Choudhary’s son Jayant Choudhary was most likely to be made the opposition’s candidate, but SP wanted to field a candidate from its party. Jayanat Choudhary and Akhilesh Yadav held a three-hour-long meet, discussing the Kairana and Noorpur Lok Sabaha by-polls, slated on May 28. In the same meeting Samajwadi candidate Tabassum Hassan’s name was decided as the joint opposition candidate. This implies that the SP leader Hassan will contest elections on the ticket of RLD party. The biggest challenge in Kairana was to bring the Muslim and Jaat voters under one roof. The Jaat voters support Choushary Ajit Singh while the Muslim voters side with Akhilesh. Now with Tabassum Hassan contesting from choudhary Ajit Singh’s party, the expectation is that opposition will get support of both the groups. Contesting on SP's ticket could prove risky for Hassan as she would lose a major share of Jaat votes. It is now expected that Hassan will get the support of Muslim, Jaat and Dalit voters. Kairana has almost 16 lakh voters of which Muslim voters form the majority with 4.75 lakh population. Dalit voters are 2.5 lakh in number, while Jaat voters are 1.5 lakh in number. Tabassum will contest against BJP’s Mriganka Singh who is the daughter of former BJP MP Hukum Singh. Female voters will equally be inclined towards both parties. Hukum Singh was victorious in Kairana in 2014 with 2.5 lakh votes but in 2017 assembly polls his daughter Mriganka Singh could not win.  The 2017 assembly poll was won by Samajwadi Party leader Tabassum Hassan’s son Naheed Hassan . Tabassum Hassan has been an MP from Bahujan Samaj Party from Kairana seat. watch ABP News' report