Samajwadi Party candidates list 2024: The Samajwadi Party on Tuesday announced candidates for 16 seats from Uttar Pradesh for the Lok Sabha elections 2024. The party has fielded Dimple Yadav from its stronghold Mainpuri for the polls. Other prominent candidates include Dharmendra Yadav from Badaun, Akshay Yadav from Firozabad and Ravidas Mehrotra from Lucknow.
The list was released just days after the Samajwadi Party announced that the Congress will contest 11 Lok Sabha seats as part of the INDIA bloc alliance in Uttar Pradesh. The Congress, however, had responded quickly stating that discussions around seat-sharing were still underway and that a “decision was expected soon”.
Lok Sabha polls 2024: Full list of 16 SP candidates
- Shafiqur Rahman Barq (Sambhal)
- Akshay Yadav (Firozabad)
- Dimple Yadav (Mainpuri)
- Devesh Shakya (Etah)
- Dharmendra Yadav (Badaun)
- Utkarsh Verma (Kheri)
- Anand Bhadoria (Dhaurahra)
- Annu Tandon (Unnao)
- Ravidas Mehrotra (Lukcnow)
- Dr Naval Kishore Shakya (Farrukhabad)
- Raja Ram Pal (Akbarpur)
- Shivshankar Singh Patel (Banda)
- Awadhesh Prasad (Faizabad)
- Kajal Nishad (Gorakhpur)
- Lalji Verma (Ambedkar Nagar)
- Ram Prasad Chaudhary (Basti)
Akhilesh Yadav’s PDA formula for Lok Sabha polls
The Samajwadi Party has pushed the PDA formula for the Lok Sabha elections, referring to the consolidation of Pichde, Dalit, Alpasankhyak votes in its favour. The PDA bloc, comprising Dalits and minorities is estimated to constitute around 8o per cent of the total voters in the state. As per some estimates, UP has 40-45 per cent OBC population, 20 per cent Dalits, and 19 percent Muslim voters in the state. The Yadav community, on the other hand, constitutes 9 per cent of the voters.
Also Read: Lok Sabha elections 2024: RLD to contest 7 seats as part of alliance with Samajwadi Party
Akhilesh, however, says the ‘A’ in PDA is not restricted to the minorities but also includes ‘Agda’ (uoper castes), Aadhi Aabadi (women) and ‘Adivasi’ (tribals).
Speaking to the media, Samajwadi Party spokesperson Ameeq Jamei said that the upcoming Lok Sabha elections serve as an opportunity to protect India’s secular democracy. “Our party leader Akhilesh Yadav has presented a model by announcing seat-sharing with the Congress and the RLD. A second round of talks with the Congress is on,” he said.
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On Saturday, Akhilesh announced that his party’s alliance with the Congress was “off to a good start” with the grand old party contesting 11 “strong” Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh. Soon after, the Congress said constructive seat-sharing talks were on between senior party leader Ashok Gehlot and SP chief Yadav, but added that a formula was yet to be finalised.