SP unveils 2 more candidates, declines opposition alliance for MP polls

The Samajwadi Party (SP) has declared names of two more candidates for the Madhya Pradesh assembly polls due this year-end, taking the number of its candidates to six.
Asked if the Samajwadi Party will contest the MP polls in alliance with the Congress as a constituent of the opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), SP state president Ramayan Singh Patel ruled out such a possibility.
“The decision about the alliance in any state is taken by the party’s national leadership, but as of now we don’t see any possibility of such an alliance in Madhya Pradesh for the upcoming assembly polls. But our national president will take a decision in this regard,” Patel said on Sunday. The opposition bloc INDIA is an alliance of 26 political parties, including the Congress and the SP. In Madhya Pradesh, the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have been the main political opponents with a marginal role of other parties.
Notably, the SP is the third party after the BJP and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) to declare candidates even though the assembly polls schedule is yet to be announced by the Election Commission.
The BJP had released a list of 39 candidates and the BSP of seven nominees.
The SP, led by former UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, managed to secure one seat in the 2018 polls to the 230-member MP assembly.
On August 23, the SP released a list of four candidates from seats in Bundelkhand and Gwalior-Chambal belt, located near the Uttar Pradesh border.
The party has also released names of candidates for two more seats, both from Vindhya region. It has fielded Vishwanath Singh Gaud Markam from Dhauhani and Shravan Kumar Singh Gaud from Chitrangi. Both the seats are under Sidhi district, which is located near the UP border.
Patel said so far, the SP has declared candidates in six seats. He said at present, his party leadership has directed the state unit to contest elections in all seats.
The party will make an announcement whenever it finds suitable candidates for different seats, he said, adding that preparations are underway for the upcoming polls. Asked about issues the SP intends to raise in the MP polls, Patel said his party leadership has already announced a caste-based census.