Farmers Movement Archive

SP names veterans Hasan, Chaudhary as its candidates for council elections

Lucknow: Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday named party veterans Ahmad Hasan and Rajendra Chaudhary as candidates for the forthcoming Vidhan Parishad election. Elections for 12 seats of the legislative council are slated to be held on January 28. The SP has the assembly strength to get just one candidate elected. The party will have to rely on votes from disenchanted members of the house belonging to other parties for the victory of its second candidate. Of the 12 seats for which elections are to be held, BJP is expected to secure 10 seats. Neither the Congress nor the Bahujan Samaj Party have the numbers to secure a seat. As a result, parties will have to fight it out for the 12th seat. What however will make the elections interesting is BSP supremo Mayawati’s November 2020 statement wherein she announced that her party will ensure defeat of SP candidates in the Council elections even if she had to side with the BJP. Having attacked the BJP over incidents of crime in UP and the farm laws, BSP will now find itself in a difficult situation politically. Names of Ahmed Hasan and Rajendra Chaudhary were finalised at a meeting of party MLAs chaired by SP chief Akhilesh Yadav at the party headquarters on Wednesday morning. Apart from finalising the candidates, the party chief also announced the names of members who will be the proposers for the two candidates. A veteran in SP, Ahmad Hasan has been a Mulayam loyalist and close to Akhilesh as well. Leader of opposition in the legislative council, Ahmad Hasan was a minister in Akhilesh cabinet. The second candidate Rajendra Chaudhary happens to be another SP veteran who has been with Akhilesh all through and was a close associate of Mulayam Singh as well. Party secretary and national spokesperson Chaudhary was also a minister in Akhilesh cabinet and is known for his clean image.

The Times of India

2021-01-14

Lucknow