Samajwadi Party

The collage includes a photograph of all the BJP leaders whose sons and daughters are leaders in the party. The attack came days ahead of the bypoll to the Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh, which fell vacant after the death of Samajwadi Party founder and Akhilesh's father Mulayam Singh Yadav. The Samajwadi Party has chosen Dimple Yadav, wife of Akhilesh Yadav, as its candidate in Mainpuri while the BJP has picked former Samajwadi Party MP Raghuraj Singh Shakya for the seat.

Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya has now called Samajwadi leader Mohd Azam Khan a 'riot-provoking' minister of the previous SP regime. He also accused him of unleashing terror on people of Rampur by encroaching upon their land and is now shedding crocodile tears. Maurya said that the BJP government has done the work of ending the terror of Azam Khan. He recalled that a stampede that occurred at the Kumbh mela was organised during the SP regime.

This is being seen as a direct fallout of his support to Dimple Yadav, the Samajwadi candidate in Mainpuri Lok Sabha by election. In a letter to the Lucknow Police Commissioner and other concerned officials, Superintendent of Police (Security) Etawah Vaibhav Krishna said that the decision to scale down the security was taken at a recent review meeting regarding threat perception to Shivpal Yadav

In an informal talk with reporters, he said: "What is the use of commenting on injustice meted out by those in office. We should, in fact, set an example for future generations by displaying unity and power of democracy in this by-election." Azam Khan urged party members and workers to display unity, and work for the victory of SP candidate Asim Raja in the December 5 by-election.

Azam Khan's name has now been removed from the electoral roll in Rampur, weeks after he was convicted in a 2019 hate speech case. The decision means that the senior SP leader will not be able to vote in the December 5 by-election in his traditional seat of Rampur. The decision to remove his name from the list was taken by the Rampur Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) on a complaint by BJP's poll candidate Akash Saxena, who cited various provisions of law to seek the deletion of his name.

In the Lakhimpur Kheri by-election held earlier this month, his name was missing from the list of star campaigners. The list also includes names of other family members who are in active politics. Apparently, Akhilesh Yadav wants to leave no stone unturned to ensure the success of his wife Dimple Yadav in the upcoming by-elections, necessitated by the demise of his father and party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav.

Accompanied by SP president Akhilesh Yadav, SP MP Prof Ram Gopal Yadav, Tej Pratap Yadav and others, Dimple filed four sets of nomination papers. Shivpal Singh Yadav was conspicuous by his absence on the occasion.

Though the Mainpuri seat is considered relatively safe for Samajwadi Party, in view of the prevailing political situation in the state, the SP will need all its resources to retain the seat from where Dimple Yadav is contesting. The seat has been a SP stronghold and Mulayam Singh had never lost any election from here. It is important for the SP to win the seat and retain Mulayam's legacy. The BJP is yet to announce its candidate, but former SP allies are already predicting the SP's defeat in Mainpuri.

The refusal of the court to stay his conviction now means that his disqualification from the state assembly will continue. Azam Khan's counsels pleaded for stay on the grounds that the reasons behind the conviction were not strong enough. The prosecution argued in favour of the conviction.

The Mainpuri seat was held by Mulayam Singh Yadav who passed away last month, necessitating a by-election.