Akhilesh Yadav to contest his first UP poll from Karhal

Samajwadi Party leader and former UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav will contest next month's Assembly election from Karhal in Mainpuri district. Karhal is his family home turf. The announcement was made by SP national general secretary Ramgopal Yadav in  Lucknow on Saturday. "He will win with massive mandate," Ramgopal Yadav said at a press conference where Akhilesh was also present.

Akhilesh Yadav made more promises at the press conference, "If SP comes to power in Uttar Pradesh, the party will create 22 lakh direct employment in IT sector in UP in Samajwadi Party's Rozgaar Sankalp when the SP forms government in 2022,” he said. Yadav also announced that Praveen Singh Aron, former member of Parliament from Bareilly and its former mayor Supriya Aron have joined the Samajwadi Party. Rita Singh, who quit the Bharatiya Janata Party last month, also joined the SP. Akhilesh said that those joining the party will contest the state polls. He announced the candidature of Supriya Aron from Bareilly Cantonment and Rita Singh’s from Sandila.

Karhal is a stronghold of the Samajwadi Party since 1993, with only one exception. In the 2002 election, the seat went to the BJP. The sitting MLA of Karhal is Sobaran Singh Yadav, who was with the BJP when he won the seat in 2002. Since 2007, he has been contesting from the seat on the SP ticket. Karhal is scheduled to go to polls on February 20 in the third phase of seven-phased UP elections.