by Ajay Kumar
Lucknow: The Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav has announced candidates for six seats ahead of the upcoming by-elections for ten seats in Uttar Pradesh. The SP has given a ticket to the son of a local MP and former MLA from Milkipur for the Ayodhya assembly seat. The candidates announced by the SP for the six assembly seats are: Tej Pratap Yadav from Karhal, Naseem Solanki from Sisamau, Mustafa Siddiqui from Phulpur, Ajit Prasad from Milkipur, Shobhavati Verma from Katehari, and Jyoti Bind from Majhwan. By-elections for these ten seats are scheduled for the end of this year, following the resignation and disqualification of previous MLAs.
However, the list released by the SP chief indicates a preference for nepotism. Akhilesh has nominated his own family member, Tej Pratap, from Karhal. Ajit, the son of Faizabad (Ayodhya) MP Awadhesh Prasad, has been given the ticket for Milkipur. Naseem, the wife of Irfan Solanki, has been nominated for the Sisamau seat. Shobhavati, from the Lalji Verma family, will contest from Katehari. Mustafa Siddiqui, who has previously contested from Phulpur, has been given a ticket again. Jyoti Bind has been nominated from Majhwan. Akhilesh has followed the PDA formula for ticket distribution, giving two tickets each to Muslim and OBC candidates, and one each to Dalit and extremely backward class leaders.
The SP has not yet announced candidates for four seats: Meerapur, Kundarki, Ghaziabad Sadar, and Khair in Aligarh. In Kundarki, the Work family is pushing for their close associate, while former MP ST Hasan from Moradabad is seeking a ticket for himself. There is also a lot of maneuvering within the SP for tickets in Aligarh and Meerapur. The Ghaziabad Sadar seat may be given to Congress, although Congress is demanding five seats. The ten seats for which by-elections are being held include Meerapur, Ghaziabad, Khair, Kundarki, Karhal, Majhwan, Phulpur, Sisamau, Milkipur, and Katehari.
