New Delhi:
The Samajwadi Party’s (SP) Tej Pratap Yadav has taken an early lead in the Karhal assembly bypoll in Uttar Pradesh, where voting was held on November 20. The by-election in Karhal is a critical battle between SP and the BJP, with Tej Pratap Yadav, nephew of SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, contesting against BJP’s Anujesh Pratap Singh.
Anujesh Pratap Singh, a former SP leader who joined the BJP in 2017, is married to Sandhya Yadav, sister of Dharmendra Yadav, Samajwadi Party MP from Azamgarh. Mr Singh, a relative of Akhilesh Yadav, is counting on capitalising on his switch to BJP, appealing to traditional Yadav voters and other sections of society.
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Tej Pratap Yadav represents the SP’s stronghold in Karhal, a seat just four kilometres from Akhilesh Yadav’s native village of Saifai in Etawah district. This constituency forms part of his wife Dimple Yadav’s Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat and has remained an SP bastion since 1993, except for a brief BJP victory in 2002.
The bypoll was necessitated by the resignation of Akhilesh Yadav, the sitting MLA, following his election to the Lok Sabha from Kannauj.