Samajwadi party has announced the list of 16 candidates ahead of the Lok Sabha election 2024. The party became the first major party to announce candidates for the upcoming parliament elections. It gave ticket to Lalji Verma from Ambedkar Nagar. Lalji Verma is a known name is Uttar Pradesh politics. He served as the finance minister of the state in 2012, while he was in BSP.

Hailed from Mohiuddinpur village of Uttar Pradesh, Verma stepped into politics by becoming the general secretary of Tanda student union in 1973. He served as member of Uttar Pradesh legislative council from 1986 to 1991. He has been elected as member of Uttar Pradesh legislative assembly in 1991, 1996, 2002, 2007, 2017 and 2022.

Verma was expelled from the party before the 2022 elections. He was expelled as he was accused of indulging in anti-party activities during the Panchayat elections. After being expelled from BSP, Verma joined Samajwadi Party.

During the 2022, assembly election, the party gave him ticket from the Katehri of Ambedkar Nagar. Lalji Verma won the Katehri seat in that election by defeating Congress candidate Nishat Fathima. Lalji Verma is currently serving as the MLA from Katehri assembly.

Uttar Pradesh politics is wrapped in a caste-based politics. After Yadav community, Kurmi is said to be the second largest caste of OBC category in the state. Seeing the dominance of Kurmi community in the Ambedkar Nagar, Samajwadi party ahs decided to give ticket to Lalji Verma, and expressed its confidence in Verma.