Who Is Devesh Shakya, Samajwadi Party's Etah Candidate? (facebook image @Devesh Shakya)

Samajwadi Party (SP) on Tuesday announced the list of 16 candidates, thereby becoming the first major party to announce candidates for the upcoming parliament elections. The party surprised everyone with their early announcement.

Devesh Shakya of Samajwadi Party will contest form Etah constituency of UP. Devesh Shakya from Auraiya of Etah is the younger brother of former Union Minister and MLA from Vidhuna, Vinay Shakya. Vinay Shakya, who had resigned from BJP, is the leader of Swami Prasad faction.

Devesh Shakya has won the Zilla Panchayat election for the first time in 2005. He won the election with a huge margin of 50,000 against his political rival. Shakya also won the second district election in 2010 by about the margin of 5000 votes. Interestingly, Shakya faced defeat for the first time in his political career during the District Panchayat President election in 2011, with a margin of mere one vote against his opponent.

After facing defeat in the District Panchayat President election in 2011, he tried once again with BJP in 2012 assembly election. However, he was again defeated by Samajwadi Party candidate Pramod Gupta.

Devesh Shakya may face a tough competition in Etah in the 2024 Lok Sabha election, as he will be facing veteran BJP leader Rajveer Singh, who is also known as Raju Bhaiya. Rajveer Singh has been Lok Sabha MP for the past two terms. Rajveer Singh is the son of Kalyan Singh of BJPT, who served twice as the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, and was the former Governor of Rajasthan