Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls 2022: Samajwadi Party fields Subhawati Shukla against Yogi Adityanath from Gorakhpur

Lucknow: Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party on Monday released a list of 24 candidates, naming former late BJP leader Upendra Dutt Shukla’s wife Subhawati Shukla as its candidate against BJP veteran and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath from Gorakhpur Urban seat.

Subhawati Shukla`s husband was known to be against Yogi Adityanath and had lost the 2018 by-election after Yogi Adityanath resigned from the seat after he became chief minister.

By fielding Subhawati Shukla, the SP is clearly aiming at making a dent in BJP votes since Upendra Dutt Shukla was party vice president and had a good following among party cadres.

Besides, Subhawati is sure to get the backing of Brahmin voters since the Thakur-Brahmin hostility in the region is well known.

The SP list also named Nandita Shukla, widow of former BJP leader Ghanshyam Shukla, from Mehnon in Gonda, Vikrama Yadav from Kushinagar, H N Patel from Sagdi in Azamgarh, Saurabh Singh from Vishwanathganj in Pratapgarh and Kaushal Singh from Nautanwa in Maharajganj.

The list also named Akhilesh Yadav (not SP president) from Mubarakpur in Azamgarh, Narad Rai from Ballia, Sushma Patel from Jaunpur and Kriti Kol from Mirzapur.

As announced by the poll body, assembly elections 2022 in Uttar Pradesh will be held in seven phases from February 10 to March 7. The counting of votes will be held on March 10. There are a total of 403 assembly seats in the state. 

Uttar Pradesh is expected to witness a tough political battle as the incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is confident of retaining power under the leadership of Yogi Adityanath, while it faces an enormous challenge from the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party (SP), which has formed a formidable pre-poll alliance with several like-minded parties to out the saffron party from power this time. 

Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra-powered Congress, which is hoping to revive its fortune and regain the lost ground is among prominent political parties besides Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Arvind Kejriwal’s AAP and Chandrashekhar Azad Ravan’s Azad Samaj Party that have also entered the battlefield.