The Samajwadi Party has released its third list of candidates for the upcoming elections, fielding Mulayam Singh Yadav’s daughter-in-law Aparna Yadav against BJP’s Rita Bahuguna Joshi from Lucknow Cantt. Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav will contest from Mubarakpur.
The party has released its third list a day after announcing a pre-poll alliance with the Congress. The latter will contest on 105 seats in the 403-member assembly.
Aparna, whose name was endorsed by the party patriarch, will be contesting against sitting MLA Rita Bahuguna Joshi, who joined the BJP after quitting the Congress some time ago.
Capping days of feverish parleys, Congress and Samajwadi Party today forged an alliance to contest the UP Assembly polls together.
The Samajwadi Party will contest 298 of the 403 seats in the state and the Congress 105.
Candidate lists that were subsequently released by the two parties reflected a spirit of give and take on Sunday.
The Samajwadis announced two candidates in Amethi and three in Rae Bareli, leaving for the Congress five seats in the parliamentary constituencies of Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi. This means the alliance partners have equally split the 10 seats in Amethi and Rae Bareli.
The list states that Abhishek Mishra from Lucknow North, Sanatan Pandey from Balia, Jagdish Sonkar from Machhlishahar, Vijay Yadav from Gorakhpur (rural) will also be contesting. However, Shivpal Yadav’s close associate Shadab Fatima has been denied ticket.
The electoral battle for Lucknow Cantonment seat has turned interesting with Aparna Yadav’s candidature. Bharatiya Janta Party has fielded Rita Bahuguna Joshi to contest the seat. Rita Bahuguna Joshi won the seat in Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections-2012.
