SP announces four more LS candidates in UP

The Samajwadi Party on Friday announced another four candidates from Uttar Pradesh for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, including Tabassum Hasan who won the Kairana bypolls last year as a joint opposition candidate.

Hasan, who wrested the seat from the Bharatiya Janata Party, had contested on a Rashtriya Lok Dal ticket in the May 2018 bypolls.

The other candidates include Vinod Kumar aka Pandit Singh from Gonda, Ram Sagar Rawat from Barabanki (reserved) seat and Shafiqur Rahman Barq from Sambhal.

On March 8, the party had released the list of six candidates including the party veteran Mulayam Singh Yadav from Mainpuri.

Dharmendra Yadav, a cousin of party chief and former Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, will again contest from Badaun while Akshay Yadav, the son of senior party leader, has been again fielded from Firozabad, from where he is the sitting MP.

Kamlesh Katheria has been fielded from Etawah, the hometown of the Yadavs, while Bhai Lal Kol is the candidate from Robertsganj. Shabeer Balmiki will contest from Bahraich.

The Samajwadi Party is contesting the Lok Sabha polls in alliance with Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party and the RLD.

The Samajwadi Party is contesting on 37 seats, RLD on three and the BSP on 38 seats. Amethi and Rae Bareli, the traditional seats of Congress President Rahul Gandhi and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, have been left for the Congress.

--IANS

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