Lok Sabha polls: SP declares candidates on 11 seats amid seat-sharing talks with Congress

Lucknow: The Samajwadi Party on Monday declared 11 candidates from Uttar Pradesh for the upcoming general elections with the list also including the name of Afzal Ansari, the sitting BSP MP from Ghazipur.

The party's announcement comes amid the offer of 17 Lok Sabha seats to the Congress, an alliance partner in the INDIA bloc.

Afzal Ansari, who is the sitting BSP MP from Ghazipur parliamentary constituency, has been fielded from the same seat by the SP.

The Supreme Court had in December 2023 conditionally suspended Ansari's conviction in a 2007 Gangsters Act case, saying his constituency will be deprived of its legitimate representation in the legislature since a by-election may not be held given the remaining tenure of the current Lok Sabha.

The other candidates announced by the party are Harendra Malik (Muzaffarnagar), Neeraj Maurya (Aonla), Rajesh Kashyap (Shahjahanpur-SC), Usha Verma (Hardoi-SC), RK Chaudhary (Mohanlalganj-SC), SP Singh Patel (Pratapgarh), Ramesh Gautam (Bahraich-SC), Shreya Verma (Gonda), Virendra Singh (Chandauli) and Rampal Rajvanshi (Misrikh-SC).

Of the 11 candidates, four hail from the backward community, five from the Scheduled Caste category, Virendra Singh is a Thakur, while Afzal Ansari is a Muslim.

The Samajwadi Party has been facing flak from party leaders and alliance partners over not giving tickets to the PDA (Pichhda, Dalit, Alpsankhyak) candidates for the ongoing Rajya Sabha elections.

For Rajya Sabha, voting for which will take place on February 27, the SP has fielded two Kayasthas -- cinestar Jaya Bachhan and former UP Chief Secretary Alok Ranjan and a Dalit Ramji Lal Suman.

Asked if its list for LS polls is a damage control exercise, SP spokesperson Rajpal Kashyap told PTI, "This list has all the elements of the 'PDA' embedded in it. And this is not a damage control exercise."

He added, "The party's earlier list also had all the elements of PDA. Now, those who are raising questions, they have some vested interests."

The SP on Monday offered 17 Lok Sabha seats to the Congress in Uttar Pradesh, with the condition that its chief, Akhilesh Yadav, would join the Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in Raebareli only if the proposal is accepted.

"We have given a final offer of 17 Lok Sabha seats to the Congress. Akhilesh Yadav's participation in the Nyay Yatra in Raebareli on Tuesday will depend on their acceptance," SP chief spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary told PTI.

He, however, refused to tell which seats were offered to the Congress.

The SP had earlier offered 11 seats to the grand old party – an offer it rebuffed with a demand for a higher allocation.

Ajay Rai, the Congress' Uttar Pradesh unit chief, had earlier said the party should get around two dozen seats that it had won in the 2009 general elections.

On January 30, the SP had announced candidates for 16 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh.

Dimple Yadav, Akhilesh Yadav's wife, and two other leaders from the Yadav family -- Akshay Yadav and Dharmendra Yadav -- figured in the party's first list.

The SP also named Awadhesh Prasad as its candidate from Faizabad constituency, which covers Ayodhya district.

At present, Awadhesh Prasad, a nine-time MLA, represents Milkipur assembly constituency in the UP Assembly.

Sitting MP Dimple Yadav has been fielded from Mainpuri, while party MP Shafiqur Rahman Barq, a five-time MP, will contest from Sambhal.

Ravidas Mehrotra, the sitting MLA from Lucknow Central, has been named as the party candidate from Lucknow Lok Sabha seat.

Akshay Yadav, son of senior SP leader Ramgopal Yadav, has been named party's candidate from Firozabad, while Dharmendra Yadav fielded from Budaun.

Dharmendra Yadav is the son of Abhay Ram Yadav, the younger brother of SP founder late Mulayam Singh Yadav.

Dimple Yadav, a three-time MP, had won the bypoll to the Mainpuri seat following the demise of Mulayam Singh Yadav.

Dharmendra Yadav was first elected as an MP from Mainpuri in 2004 bypolls. He represented Budaun in the Lok Sabha in 2009 and 2014.

In 2019, he lost the seat to Sanghmitra Maurya of the BJP.

Akshay Yadav was elected to the Lok Sabha in 2014 from Firozabad. He was defeated by BJP's Chandra Sen Jadon in 2019.