Lok Sabha elections phase 3 elections today: High-stakes battle in Samajwadi Party bastions for 3 Yadav family members

The seats in UP going to polls are Sambhal, Hathras, Agra, Fatehpur Sikri, Firozabad, Mainpuri, Etah, Badaun, Bareilly and Aonla. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had won eight of these seats in 2019. The two remaining seats – Mainpuri and Sambhal were captured by the Samajwadi Party (SP).

Also read: Lok Sabha elections 2024 Phase 3: Amit Shah, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Dimple Yadav, others are at the crossroads of destiny

Three members of the Yadav family are in the fray as SP candidates in phase 3. Among them is Dimple Yadav, wife of former Prime Minister Akhilesh Yadav, an SP candidate from party stronghold Mainpuri. Former MP Akshay Yadav, son of Ram Gopal Yadav, hails from Firozabad. Shivpal Singh Yadav’s son Aditya Yadav is contesting from Badaun seat.

Rajya Sabha member Ram Gopal Yadav is the nephew of SP patriarch late Mulayam Singh Yadav. Shivpal Singh Yadav is Mulayam’s brother.

Three candidates for the Yadav family

The Samajwadi Party has never lost a seat in Mainpuri since the 1960s. SP patriarch late Mulayam Singh Yadav won this seat five times. His daughter-in-law Dimple Yadav, the sitting MP, is pitted against Jaiveer Singh of BJP this time. Dimple had defeated Raghuraj Shakya of BJP by around 2.9 Lakh votes in 2019.

In Firozabad, Mulayam’s cousin Akshay Yadav is contesting against BJP’s Vishwadeep Singh. In 2019, Chandra Sen Jadon of BJP defeated Akshay Yadav by around 30,000 votes. However, Akshay won the seat in 2014.

And in Badaun, debutant and another Mulayam cousin, Aditya Yadav will take on BJP’s Durvijay Sakya. In 2019, the BJP’s Sanghamitra Maurya had defeated Mulayam’s other cousin Dharmendra Yadav, a two-time MP from Badaun, by 18,500 votes.

The absence of Mulayam Singh Yadav

The Yadav family will go to the Lok Sabha elections without SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav, who passed away in 2022. The SP is contesting the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in alliance with the Congress as part of the INDIA bloc.

Also read: Lok Sabha elections 2024: Complete list of 93 seats voting in phase 3

The Congress has fielded candidates for 17 seats, while the SP has fielded candidates for the rest. Of the 80 seats of Uttar Pradesh, the BJP had won 62 seats, while the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) bagged 10 seats. The SP had won five seats and the Congress party only two seats.

The phase 3 elections saw a strong campaign by all political parties in UP. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath led the BJP’s campaign against what they called the dynasty and appeasement politics of the Congress and the Samajwadi Party (SP), and condemned the opposition for rejecting the Ram Mandir. invitation.

The SP, with a lot at stake at this stage, has tightened its caste count and claimed that the BJP will end reservations and therefore set a target of 400 seats for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

(With input from agencies)

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Published: May 6, 2024 08:45 AM IST