Mainpuri Bypolls 2022: Political drama continued for the December 5 by-poll for the Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat which is the bastion of Samajwadi Party founder and patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav. After the party fielded the late leader’s daughter-in-law Dimple Yadav for the seat, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) nominated Raghuraj Singh Shakya, a close aide of Mulayam Singh’s brother Shivpal Yadav, for the bypoll.
In a turn of events, Shivpal Yadav, founder of Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party Lohia (PSPL), featured in the list of star campaigners for the Samajwadi Party, who on Wednesday asked party workers to ensure the victory of Dimple Yadav.
“The SP has fielded netaji‘s daughter-in-law Dimple Yadav from the Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat. Dimple is also the elder daughter-in-law of our family. Campaign for her and work to ensure her victory with a huge margin,” Shivpal Yadav was quoted as saying by a party worker, reported PTI.
Also Read: Mainpuri Lok Sabha byelection: Samajwadi Party fields Dimple Yadav as candidate for Dec 5 bypoll
The appeal came a day after Shakya said he would seek the blessings of his “political guru” Shivpal Yadav for the by-poll. “He (Shivpal Yadav) is my political guru. I will seek his blessings too,” Shakya said in Mainpuri on Tuesday.
Shakya had quit the Shivpal-led PSPL to join the BJP earlier this year. He was earlier in the SP and sided with Shivpal Yadav after he floated his own party.
The by-poll which was necessitated following the death of Mulayam Singh Yadav, will be held on December 5, and the counting of votes will be on December 8. The Mainpuri Parliamentary constituency has five assembly constituencies, including Mainpuri, Bhogaon, Kishni, Karhal and Jaswant Nagar. While SP won three, the saffron party got two seats in the Assembly polls.
Also Read: Mainpuri byelection 2022: BJP fields Raghuraj Singh Shakya against Dimple Yadav of Samajwadi Party
In 2019, Mulayam won the seat by a margin of over 94,000 votes. Dimple Yadav’s candidature from the seat is seen as the party’s efforts to carry forward the legacy of her father-in-law on the seat, considered a stronghold of the Samajwadi Party since 1996.