SP Adds Salt to Congress’ Haryana Wound; Akhilesh Unilaterally Names Candidates for UP Bypolls

New Delhi: While the Congress is yet to recover from the Haryana shocker, the Samajwadi Party (SP) on Wednesday unilaterally announced candidates for six of the 10 Uttar Pradesh Assembly seats where bypolls are to be held later this year.

It was almost a snub of the SP to Congress following its poor performance in the Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir elections.

The SP sources said the party has decided to leave only two seats for the Congress and would announce two more candidates soon.

Tej Pratap Singh, nephew of SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, will contest from Karhal in Mainpuri district which fell vacant following Akhilesh’s resignation after being elected as an MP from Kannauj.

Ajit Prasad, son of Faizabad MP Awadhesh Prasad, will contest from Milkipur. Awadhesh was the Milkipur MLA before resigning in June following his election as an MP.

Naseem Solanki, the wife of jailed and disqualified SP MLA from Sishamau Irfan Solanki, will contest the vacant seat in Kanpur district.

Jyoti Bind, a doctor is the SP candidate for Majhwan. She is the daughter of Ramesh Bind who was elected BJP MP from Bhadohi in 2019 but the party denied him a ticket in 2024. Ramesh joined the SP and lost from Mirzapur.

Shobhawati Verma, the SP candidate from Katehari in Ambedkar Nagar district, is the wife of Lalaji Verma who resigned after his election as an MP from Ambedkar Nagar.

Former MLA of Pratappur in Bhadohi district, Mustafa Siddiqui, is the SP nominee from Phulpur.

The SP’s decision to field a candidate from this seat is being seen as an impediment to its electoral alliance with the Congress. In the last parliamentary elections in Uttar Pradesh, SP and Congress won 37 and six seats, respectively, out of 80.

Congress sources said the SP didn’t consult before announcing its candidates.

The SP has not announced nominees for Ghaziabad, Meerapur (Muzaffarnagar), Khair (Aligarh) and Kundarki (Moradabad).

Reacting to the SP list, state Congress chief Ajay Rai said: “We already have an alliance with the SP. We will discuss our issues and resolve them before polling day.”