New Delhi: The Samajwadi Party on Monday declared Tejpratap Singh Yadav as its candidate for the Kannauj Lok Sabha seat, ending speculation surrounding party chief Akhilesh Yadav's potential candidacy from the constituency. Tejpratap Singh Yadav, the grand-nephew of SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav and son-in-law of RJD leader Lalu Prasad Yadav, previously represented the Mainpuri seat from 2014 to 2019.
In the 2019 polls, Kannauj won by the BJP's Subrat Pathak, who defeated Akhilesh Yadav's wife Dimple Yadav. Additionally, the SP has also named Sanatan Pandey as its candidate from the Ballia seat, reported news agency PTI.
Uttar Pradesh sends the highest number of members to Lok Sabha — 80.
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In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP won 62 of UP's 80 seats. General V.K. Singh (Retd) won the Ghaziabad constituency with a commanding lead of over 5 lakh votes against his closest rival, Suresh Bansal of the Samajwadi Party.
In 2014, too, Singh had set a record by securing a remarkable margin of 5,67,260 votes against the Congress's Raj Babbar, as per PTI.
The Samajwadi Party has released the names of 57 candidates so far for the Lok Sabha polls. As a key member of the I.N.D.I.A bloc, the SP plays a pivotal role in the alliance looking to unseat the Modi government at the Centre.
As part of the pre-poll alliance, the SP has tied up with the Congress and the All India Trinamool Congress in Uttar Pradesh. It is also supporting I.N.D.I.A bloc partners in other states. Under the seat-sharing arrangement, the Congress is contesting from 17 seats.
General elections are being held in India from 19 April to 1 June 2024 in seven phases, to elect 543 members of the Lok Sabha. The votes will be counted and the results will be declared on 4 June 2024.