The Samajwadi Party (SP) on Sunday announced that its chief Akhilesh Yadav will contest the coming Lok Sabha polls from the Azamgarh constituency in Uttar Pradesh. The constituency was previously held by Yadav's father and former UP Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav.
In the 2014 elections, SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav had won the Mainpuri and Azamgarh Lok Sabha constituencies. Azamgarh is considered a strong belt of the party. Besides Akhilesh Yadav, the party also fielded former state minister Azam Khan from Rampur. So far, the SP has announced 19 candidates for the general elections.
The SP, which won five seats in the 2014 elections, has announced to contest the 2019 elections in alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD). The Samajwadi Party will contest on 37, the BSP on 38 and the RLD on three out of the 80 seats in the state.
Both the parties will take part in joint rallies across Uttar Pradesh. Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) will also join the two political parties, Samajwadi Party's chief spokesman Rajendra Chowdhury announced on March 21.
According to DNA, the rallies will begin on April 7 at Saharanpur district's Deoband town. Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav, Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati and RLD leader Ajit Singh will address the rally.
The seven-phased Lok Sabha elections are scheduled from April 11 to May 19. Counting of votes will take place on May 23.
