UP elections 2017: SP announces 325 assembly candidates, Akhilesh aides dropped

LUCKNOW: Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav on Wednesday announced a list of 325 candidates of the 403 UP Assembly seats for the upcoming  Uttar Pradesh assembly elections.  Mulayam said that the name of candidates for rest of the 78 seats will be announced soon. Out of the 325 candidates announced, SP has given tickets to 176 sitting MLAs. While announcing the list Mulayam hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a 'fighter' but maintained that BJP has failed to fulfill its promises. SP chief said party will not announce Chief Ministerial candidate before elections. He also ruled out any pre-poll alliance with any party. What is likely to trigger a fresh round of feud in the party is the fact that 53 sitting legislators have been denied tickets. They include senior minister and close Akhilesh Yadav aide Arvind Singh 'Gop', whose ticket has been given to Rakesh Verma, son of senior party leader Beni Prasad Verma. Ayodhya legislator and a close aide of Akhilesh Yadav, Pawan Pandey, has also also been denied a ticket, while 176 incumbent legislators have been re-nominated. Party leaders informed that a staggering 4,200 persons had applied for party tickets. Reacting to the list announced by father and SP chief, Akhilesh said he will talk to Neta ji ( Mulayam Singh) once again on ticket distribution. "Those who have worked hard are youths, they should get tickets," UP Chief Minister said. Samajwadi Party boss announced the first list in the absence of his son and Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, who is at loggerheads with his uncle and bete noire Shivpal Yadav. Mulayam announced the name of his brother Shivpal from Jaswant Nagar Assembly seat. Akhilesh's name did not figure in the first list. Mulayam, however, said that his son being the Chief Minister can contest from any assembly seat he wishes to. The Chief Minister had earlier last week sent the list of candidates for 403 assembly seats to the party chief. However, this had irked Shivpal forcing him to state that no indiscipline will be tolerated in the party and the tickets will be confirmed with Mulayam's consent. As per the list announced by Mulayam, Azam Khan will contest from Rampur, Gayatri Prasad Prajapati from Amethi, Ram Shankar Katheria from Kaimganj, Pinki Yadav from Asmoli, Harish Lodhi from Dibai, Tejvir Singh from Chhara, Raja Mahendra Aridaman Singh from Bah, Mohd Rehan from Lucknow West, Ravidas Mehrotra from Lucknow central, Mahendra Singh Patel from Rohanya and Durga Prasad Yadav from Azamgarh. During SP's recent public turf war, Akhilesh had insisted he should have a say in the ticket distribution as the election was a test of his government's performance. The Samajwadi Party has 224 seats in the present assembly. (With inputs from agencies)