Samajwadi workers had urged Akhilesh Yadav to run for the Lok Sabha from Rampur.Samajwadi Party (SP) chief and former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Akhilesh Yadav has decided not to contest the Lok Sabha Elections 2024, sources said. Reportedly, this decision was made following a meeting in Lucknow on March 27. This coincides with the final day for filing nominations for the first phase of the Lok Sabha polls on April 19.
Samajwadi workers had urged Akhilesh Yadav to run for the Lok Sabha from the Rampur constituency, previously held by jailed SP leader Azam Khan. In 2019, Khan won the Lok Sabha election from Rampur, but vacated the seat to contest the assembly election from Rampur in 2022. In the bypoll to Rampur Lok Sabha seat in June 2022, Ghanshyam Singh Lodhi of the BJP snatched this seat from the SP. Khan could not keep his assembly seat as well as he was disqualified after being sentenced to three years in jail in a 2019 hate speech case. This seat was also won by the BJP.
Yadav, who wouldn’t nominate any candidate from Rampur without consulting Azam Khan, met him at Sitapur district jail on March 24. Samajwadi Party sources said that Azam Khan requested Yadav to contest from Rampur. While Yadav had not agreed to it, he discussed other potential candidates with Khan.
There was also speculation about Yadav contesting from Kannauj, a constituency previously represented by his late father Mulayam Singh Yadav and his wife Dimple Yadav. The SP chief, currently an MLA from Karhal, had won the Azamgarh constituency in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Akhilesh Yadav debuted in politics in 1999 when he contested and won the by-election to Kannauj Lok Sabha seat. He again contested the 2004 Lok Sabha polls from Kannauj and won. In 2009, Akhilesh Yadav contested from Kannauj and Firozabad Lok Sabha seats. He vacated the Firozabad seat for his wife Dimple Yadav. She was defeated by Congress leader Raj Babbar in the bypoll. She, however, won the Lok Sabha election from Kannauj in 2014. Presently, she is an MP from Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat.
The Lok Sabha Elections 2024, spanning seven phases, will start on April 19, with results slated for June 4. Akhilesh Yadav’s SP is fighting the election in alliance with the Congress party. The Congress will field candidates in 17 seats, while the SP and its allied parties will contest 63 out of the 80 parliamentary seats in Uttar Pradesh.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 62 seats, the BSP 10 seats, SP five, and Congress just one.