Akhilesh Yadav might contest from Kannauj, SP unit urges him to reconsider decision to field nephew

Lok Sabha polls: Samajwadi Party chief and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav is likely to contest the ongoing general elections from Kannauj. This comes after the party's local unit urged the former Uttar Pradesh CM to reconsider the decision of fielding his nephew Tej Pratap Singh Yadav from the Samajwadi Party bastion. 

Party will take any final and official decision in this regard soon, AajTak reported. While talking about Kannauj, Akhilesh Yadav said he will do whatever the people of the constituency say. 

The Samajwadi Party on Monday announced Tej Pratap Singh Yadav as the candidate from Kannauj. The announcement of Tej Pratap Singh Yadav's candidature from Kannauj put to rest the speculations that the Samajwadi Party supremo might contest from the seat.

While the SP may be indecisive about its Kannauj Lok Sabha candidate, the BJP has gone for sitting MP and its Uttar Pradesh general secretary Subrat Pathak and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has fielded Imran Bin Zafar from the constituency.

Tej Pratap Singh Yadav, who is a grand-nephew of late Mulayam Singh Yadav and son-in-law of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Lalu Prasad Yadav, represented the Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat from 2014-19. In the 2014 elections, late Mulayam Singh Yadav contested from Azamgarh and Mainpuri and won both of them. Later, he left the Mainpuri seat where the Samajwadi Party fielded Tej Pratap Singh Yadav. 

Tej Pratap Singh Yadav, however, was not given a ticket in 2019 and Netaji contested from the Mainpuri seat. Dimple Yadav won the by-election on the Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat, necessitated by the death of Mulayam Singh Yadav. 

In 2019, BJP's Subrat Pathak defeated Akhilesh Yadav's wife Dimple Yadav in Kannauj. The seat was retained by Dimple Yadav in the 2014 general election as well as the 2012 bypoll. Since 1999, Kannauj has been a Samajwadi Party stronghold. The BJP won from this seat only once in the 1996 general election when Chandra Bhushan Singh emerged victorious with more than 2.19 lakh votes.