Shivpal Yadav among SP's campaigners in Mainpuri LS bypoll

The Samajwadi Party on Tuesday announced the name of Shivpal Singh Yadav as one of its campaigners for the Mainpuri bypoll.

The party had on November 10 named party chief Akhilesh Yadav's wife Dimple Yadav as its candidate for Mainpuri parliamentary seat, which fell vacant after the death of Mulayam Singh Yadav.

The list sent to the Election Commission by SP principal general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav has 40 names, including that of Shivpal Yadav -- founder of Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party Lohia and brother of Mulayam Singh Yadav.

There was no immediate reaction from the PSPL on the inclusion of Shivpal Singh Yadav's name in the SP's list of campaigners.

However, both Shivpal Singh Yadav and his son Aditya Yadav were not present when Dimple Yadav filed her nomination papers on Monday.

Others named as campaigners in the list are SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, Mohd Azam Khan, and Jaya Bachchan.

Shivpal Singh Yadav's name was not included in the list of campaigners ahead of the assembly polls held earlier this year and he was was not invited in party meetings despite his support to the SP, PSPL leaders have claimed.

Dimple Yadav, wife of the SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, had represented Kannauj seat in 2012 and 2014.

Dimple Yadav's candidature from the seat is seen as the SP's efforts to carry forward the legacy of her father-in-law on the seat, considered a stronghold of Samajwadi Party since 1996.

Her selection is also seen as an attempt to unite party cadres ahead of the bypoll.

Akhilesh Yadav's Karhal assembly seat is part of Mainpuri Lok Sabha constituency and so is Jaswant Nagar represented by Shivpal Singh Yadav. Shivpal Singh Yadav had won the seat on SP ticket.

The role of Shivpal Yadav in the Mainpuri bypoll is hotly debated in the political circles.

Dimple Yadav had lost the Lok Sabha by-election from Firozabad in 2009 against actor turned politician Raj Babbar and in 2019 to Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Subrat Pathak from Kannauj.

She was elected unopposed from the Kannauj constituency to the Lok Sabha in 2012 after Akhilesh Yadav became the chief minister and resigned from the seat to enter the Uttar Pradesh legislative council.

In 2019, Mulayam Singh Yadav had won the seat by margin of over 94,000 votes.

According to sources, Yadavs account for about 35 per cent of the total 12.13 lakh voters while the remaining include Shakya, Thakurs, Brahmins, Scheduled Castes and Muslim communities.

Mainpuri Parliamentary constituency has five assembly constituencies, including Mainpuri, Bhogaon, Kishni, Karhal and Jaswant Nagar. While SP won three, BJP got two seats in the Assembly polls.

Mainpuri bypoll will be held on December 5 and the result will be declared on December 8.