The Samajwadi Party (SP) on Wednesday released its first list of candidates for the upcoming by-elections in Uttar Pradesh, which are set to take place later this year alongside the Maharashtra and Jharkhand Assembly elections. “The initial list includes six candidates name and the reat will be followed soon “ told SP leader.
SP’s national spokesperson, I.P. Singh, told The Daily Guardian that the party has announced the names of six candidates in its first list, with more to follow soon. Singh stated, “The Samajwadi Party is determined to defeat the BJP, and we wanted to give our candidates sufficient time to campaign, which is why we’ve announced our candidates ahead of other parties.” He also mentioned that the Congress and SP leadership are in discussions, and the seat announcements have been made with the principles of the alliance, or “gathbandhan dharm,” in mind. Singh expressed confidence in the party’s success, saying, “I am certain we will win all the seats. These are constituencies where we either won previously or finished in second place.” He emphasized the party’s respect for the alliance, noting that the top leadership will make the final decision on which remaining seats will be allocated to Congress
Among the candidates, Tej Pratap Yadav has been fielded from Karhal, Naseem Solanki from the Sisamau seat, Mustafa Siddiqui from Phulpur (Prayagraj), Ajit Prasad from Milkipur (Ayodhya), Shobhawai Verma from Katehari, and Jyoti Bind from Majhwan.
By-elections will be held in 10 Assembly seats across the state: Katehari (Ambedkar Nagar), Karhal (Mainpuri), Milkipur (Ayodhya), Meerapur (Muzaffarnagar), Ghaziabad, Majhwan (Mirzapur), Sisamau (Kanpur city), Khair (Aligarh), Phulpur (Prayagraj), and Kundarki (Moradabad). Nine of these seats, except Sisamau, became vacant after their MLAs were elected to the Lok Sabha. The by-election in Sisamau is being held due to the disqualification of SP MLA Irfan Solanki following his conviction in a criminal case.
The SP, which is part of the INDIA bloc, has announced it will contest the bypolls in alliance with the Congress, similar to their collaboration in the Lok Sabha elections where they outperformed the BJP, securing 43 out of 80 seats. However, seat-sharing for the by-elections has not yet been finalized. Congress is reportedly demanding three seats from SP. In the 2022 elections, SP won five of the 10 seats now going to bypolls, while BJP won three, and RLD and NISHAD Party won one seat each.
