LUCKNOW: After much criticism for its 'secrecy' over candidates’ list, the Samajwadi Party on Monday released names of 159 nominees to contest assembly elections on party symbols in the first three phases.
Trying to come out of its image of a party of Muslims and Yadavs, the SP has given 48, or a little less than one-third, tickets to none-Yadav OBCs. The number of candidates from Yadav sub-caste is 15. Besides, striking a balance between Muslims and Dalits, it has also fielded 31 candidates from the two segments apart from 11 women in the first three phases.
The list also includes nine Brahmins, seven Thakurs and nine Vaish candidates. "The caste arithmetic suggests a clear shift from the earlier Muslim – Yadav dominance on candidate lists that was been noticeably dominant feature of the party in most of the previous elections," says a political analyst.
Assembly elections 2022: Complete coveragePoll scheduleDetailed coverageUP electionsPunjab electionsUttarakhand electionsGoa electionsManipur electionsParty insiders said the leadership has decided to maintain a somewhat similar template for the remaining phases in terms of accommodating castes, turncoats and its own party leaders. There are 18 turncoats in this list, including the ones who have recently shifted from the BJP.
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While the list officially stamps the candidature of the party chief Akhilesh Yadav from pocket borough Karhal, it also includes the of SP veteran Azam Khan, who is lodged in Sitapur jail. He has been fielded from his traditional seat Rampur while his son Abdullah Azam is the party candidate from neighbouring Suar.
Former minister Swami Prasad Maurya, who defected to SP from BJP recently, failed to get a ticket for his son Utkrisht from Unchahar - at least in this list -- as the party retained its sitting MLA Manoj Pandey from the seat.
Umar Ali, the son in law of Maulana Ahmed Bukhari, the Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid in Delhi will contest from Behat. Bukhari has been very close to SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav for decades.
SP chief's uncle Shivpal Yadav also finds a mention in the list as he is contesting on SP symbol from his traditional seat Jaswantnagar. An alliance partner of SP - Mahaan Dal - has also got a representation with its national president Keshav Dev Maurya's son Chandra Prakash Maurya getting a ticket from Bilsi seat.
Bilsi's present MLA Radha Krishna Sharma, who defected to SP along with Maurya, has been adjusted from Aonla seat. The list of turncoats begins with Yogi's former minister Dharam Singh Saini from Nakur. Roshan Lal Verma has been fielded from his own seat, Tilhar.
Apart from the two, former MLA Ramhetu Bharti, Bhagwati Prasad Sagar and Neeraj Maurya - who had defected from the BJP along with Swami Prasad and Saini - have also got the tickets. The list of turncoats from BJP also includes Mukhiya Gurjar from Hasanganj in Amroha as well.
BSP MLA Aslam Ali has been fielded from Dhaolana while names of ex-BSP state president RS Kushwaha (Nighasan) and former BSP minister Daddu Prasad (Naraini) also figure in the list. Other turncoats from BSP who made it to list are Yogesh Verma (Hastinapur), Sitaram Kushwaha (Jhansi), former BSP MLC Tilak Chandra Ahirwar (Mauranipur), Asif Khan Babbu (Shahabad), Amar Pal Sharma (Sahibabad) and Bansi Singh (Khurja). All have joined the SP after 2020.
Former Bareilly Surpiya Aron, who recently shifted from the Congress, has been named as the party candidate from Bareilly Cantt. Nahid Hasan, who was arrested a day after he filed his nomination papers and is at present in jail, has been retained as the party candidate despite pointed attacks by chief minister Yogi Adityanath and BJP's election co-incharge Union minister Anurag Thakur highlighting list the criminal cases pending against him and his subsequent arrest.
