NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has announced Anujesh Yadav as its candidate for the upcoming by-election for the Karhal seat in Mainpuri, Uttar Pradesh.
The decision has sent shockwaves through political circles, as the seat will now see a clash between uncle and nephew. Anujesh Yadav, the son-in-law of Samajwadi Party (SP) patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav, will be contesting against Tej Pratap Yadav, the SP candidate and grandson of Mulayam Singh Yadav.
The Karhal seat is known as an SP stronghold. Anujesh Yadav is the husband of Sandhya Yadav, Mulayam Singh’s niece and MP Dharmendra Yadav’s sister. Sandhya, also known as Baby Yadav, served as the district panchayat president of Mainpuri from 2015 to 2020, while Anujesh himself was a district panchayat member from Firozabad during the same period.
The BJP’s strategy to field a relative of the Saifai clan, which has long been synonymous with the Samajwadi Party’s political dominance, is seen as a significant move. Political analysts suggest this could divide family loyalties and test the Yadav family’s unity in the heartland of their political influence.
The Karhal seat was held by Akhilesh Yadav after the 2022 UP Assembly elections. It fell vacant after he was elected to the Lok Sabha earlier this year. In his place, Akhilesh Yadav’s nephew, Tej Pratap Yadav, who is also the son-in-law of RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav, is contesting this time.
The nine Assembly seats where bypolls are to be held are Karhal (Mainpuri), Sishamau (Kanpur), Katehari (Ambedkarnagar), Majhawan (Mirzapur), Kundarki (Moradabad), Khair (Aligarh), Ghaziabad, Phulpur (Prayagraj), and Meerapur (Muzaffarnagar). The BJP, on Thursday, October 24, declared its candidates for all the seats.
The party has fielded Ramvir Singh Thakur from Kundarki, Sanjeev Sharma from Ghaziabad, Surendra Diler from Khair, Deepak Patel from Phulpur, Dharamraj Nishad from Katehari, and Suchismita Maurya from Majhawan.
The by-election is scheduled to be held on November 13, 2024, and the results will be declared on November 23.