Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav has released a list of 235 of his own candidates for the upcoming Assembly elections. On Wednesday, his father and Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav had released a list of candidates for around 325 of the state’s 404 Assembly seats, while announcing that the party would not ally with any others. The chief minister’s list reportedly contains names of those to whom Mulayam Singh had denied a ticket.
Earlier on Thursday, Yadav had reportedly met his father to convey his displeasure over the list of candidates that had been announced. He had also met legislators who were not nominated from the SP. The party supremo’s list had left out names of several ministers supporting Akhilesh Yadav, including Ram Govind Chaudhary, Pawan Pandey and Arvind Singh Gope, according to Indian Express.
It is unclear if Akhilesh Yadav’s candidates will stand against those from Mulayam Singh’s list or whether they will stand under the Samajwadi Party’s symbol, a cycle.
The party has faced infighting since September, when Shivpal Yadav was selected the state SP chief. Akhilesh Yadav had then relieved Shivpal, his uncle, of his Cabinet portfolios, once in September and again in November. Despite intervention from Mulayam Singh, the rift in the party has remained, with Akhilesh Yadav’s supporters reportedly functioning independently out of a separate office in Lucknow.
State elections are expected to be held around February. Uttar Pradesh has 404 Assembly seats, the most in any state in India.
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