Going it alone? Mulayam names candidates for 325 UP Assembly seats

Mulayam has ruled out alliance with any party for the upcoming UP Assembly polls

The Samajwadi Party on Wednesday announced candidates for 325 of the 403 seats in the coming Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.

SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav announced the list, and ticket were given to 176 sitting MLAs. The party will announce candidates for 78 seats in second round, Yadav said.

While earlier there were reports that SP might enter into an alliance with the Congress, Yadav ruled out alliance with any party for the upcoming UP Assembly polls. However, since candidates to 78 seats have not yet been announced, some believe that the hopes of an alliance with the Congress are not fully dashed.

On the question of whether he had selected a majority of names from Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav's list or state president Shivpal Singh Yadav's list, Yadav said, "I have selected candidates on my own."

There had been a bitter war of words in the first family of SP over power and both Akhilesh and Shivpal had submitted their list of candidates to 'Netaji' Mulayam Singh Yadav.

It is learnt that Akhilesh's name also does not figure on the list. "The second list will be out. Akhilesh can contest from any seat," Mulayam said.