Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Monday indicated that he would contest the 2019 Lok Sabha election from Kannauj. Mr. Yadav's wife Dimple Yadav is the current Member of Parliament from Kannauj, which is close to the Yadav family bastion of Etawah-Mainpuri.
"...Our party will decide who will contest from where. Kannauj has been [Socialist Ram Manohar] Lohiaji's constituency. That's why I would wish that I contest from there," Mr. Yadav told reporters here on the 8th death anniversary of socialist Janeshwar Mishra.
The former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister also said that his father and SP founder Mulayam Singh Yadav would contest from Mainpuri, as desired by him.
In 2014, the senior Yadav had contested from two seats, the other bring Azamgarh, which he eventually decided to retain in a bid to expand party presence in Purvanchal. That Mr. Akhilesh Yadav, who is currently an MLC in UP, has decided to contest the Lok Sabha is read as a move to galvanize cadre and express presence electorally, especially since his father Mulayam does not boast the political energy of his heydays.
Kannauj is being viewed as a strategic pick as it is considered a safe seat for him. Both Mr. Mulayam Singh Yadav and Mr. Akhilesh Yadav have been MPs from Kannauj in the past. There is also an attempt by the Yadav scion to shed off allegations of dynasty politics.
In September last year, when faced with questions on nepotism during a visit to Raipur, Mr. Akhilesh Yadav had indicated that his wife would not contest the 2019 Lok Sabha. An MP from Kannauj from 2000 to 2012, Mr. Yadav had vacated his seat for his wife after he went on to become CM. His return to Kannauj could also mark the end of Ms. Dimple's electoral stint as there is no other seat considered safe for her.
During the crisis in the Yadav family during the 2017 election, Ms. Dimple was seen standing strongly beside her husband and even actively campaigned for the party. Ms. Dimple started her electoral career with a by-poll from Firozabad in 2009 but had to taste defeat at the hands of the Congress' Raj Babbar.
However, luck shine upon her soon enough as her husband was elected the CM of UP and had to vacate his seat Kannauj. Ms. Dimple was elected MP from Kannauj unopposed.
In 2014, she was among the five Yadav family members of the SP who withstood the Modi wave, as she retained Kannauj. Despite securing a mammoth 4.89 lakh votes, Ms. Dimple beat the BJP's Subrat Pathak by only 20,000 votes.
In the 2017 Assembly election, the SP lost a lot of ground in Kannauj district as well as the constituent assemblies of the Kannauj Lok Sabha seat. The SP won only one out of the five Assembly segments in Kannauj Lok Sabha constituency.
In 2009, when Mr. Akhilesh Yadav last contested from Kannauj he had a comfortable win securing 3.37 lakh votes. Apart from Ram Manohar Lohia, Mulayam Singh and Akhilesh Yadav, the Kannauj seat has in the past also been held by former Delhi CM Sheila Dikshit. The SP had been winning the seat consecutively since 1998.
