Samajwadi Party general secretary Ramgopal Yadav is likely to contest the Lok Sabha election from Sambhal constituency in 2019. Presently he is leader of the party in Rajya Sabha and his term ends on November 2020.
Akhilesh has also announced that his father Mulayam Singh Yadav will contest from Mainpuri which makes the SP the first party to announce candidature for the next Parliament poll.
The other dominant parties – Bhartiya Janata Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and the Congress have made no announcements for the polls yet. This is also an indication of Akhilesh Yadav’s advance preparations for polls after suffering a nightmare during the 2017 Assembly poll.
In 2004 Lok Sabha poll, Ramgopal Yadav had won the election from Sambhal seat as Samajwadi Party candidate. However, in 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Satyapal Singh of the BJP won the seat defeating Samajwadi Party candidate Shafiqur Rahman Burq.
Sambhal seat is considered safe for Samajwadi Party because of the overwhelming number of Yadav and Muslim voters in the constituency. Former Samajwadi Party founder Mulayam Singh had contested from Sambhal seat in 1998 and 1999 Lok Sabha poll and won on both occasion.
A senior SP leader said that drawing lessons from 2014 Lok Sabha elections and 2017 Assembly elections, the Samajwadi Party wanted to set its house in order and send clear signal to the electorate about firming up its traditional social coalition of Yadav and muslims.
The SP has already initiated the process of inviting applications from prospective candidates for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
SP president Akhilesh Yadav has announced that he would contest the next Lok Sabha election from Kannauj Lok Sabha seat. Presently Akhilesh’ wife, Dimple Yadav is the sitting MP from Kannauj. In 2014, Diomple had defeated the nearest BJP rival by just 20,000 votes.
On the other hand, Akhilesh has represented Kannauj thrice in Lok Sabha before relinquishing the seat after becoming Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh in 2012.
In 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Mulayam Singh had contested from Azamgarh and Mainpuri and won from both. Later he retained Azamgarh to strengthen the party in eastern UP and vacated Mainpuri. Later, his grandson Tej Pratap Yadav won the Mainpuri by-poll.
SP has five members in Lok Sabha—all from the Yadav clan. While Mainpuri and Kannauj are traditional SP seats, Ferozabad is held by Akshay Yadav (Ram Gopal Yadav’s son), Azamgarh by Mulayam Singh Yadav and Budaun by Dharmendra Yadav (Mulayam’s nephew).