Last minute twist; Akhilesh Yadav to contest from Kannauj against Subrat Pathak who defeated his wife Dimple Yadav

NEW DELHI: Samajwadi Party President and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav to contest Lok Sabha elections. Akhilesh Yadav will contest from Kannauj in Uttar Pradesh. Samajwadi Party announced through X that Akhilesh will file his nomination papers on Thursday. With this, the stage has been set for a face-to-face fight with Subrat Pathak of BJP. Akhilesh's wife Dimple Yadav had lost against Subrat Pathak in the last election. Akhilesh's nephew Tej Pratap Yadav was announced as the candidate here, but the decision was changed dramatically at the last moment. BSP candidate is Imran bin Zafar.

Kannauj has been a stronghold of Samajwadi since 1999, yet Dimple Yadav lost here in 2019. Subrat Pathak won with a majority of 12,353 votes. BJP had captured the constituency in 1996 as well. Kanauj is also the constituency where NOTA got 8165 votes in 2019. Dimple Yadav later came to the Lok Sabha from Mainpuri in UP.

With Akhilesh's arrival, Kanauj became the star-studded constituency of western UP. The victory of Akhilesh, the main leader of the 'India' front, is a matter of pride for the party. Akhilesh's claim is that he will have a historic victory. When Akhilesh's nephew was announced as a candidate in the constituency, BJP had started campaigning with accusations of nepotism. Polling will be held here on May 13 in the fourth phase.