SP announces 16 candidates for Lok Sabha polls; Dimple to contest from Mainpuri

Announcement comes amid seat-sharing talks between SP, Congress and RLD

CNN Central News & Network–ITDC India Epress/ITDC News Bhopal: The Samajwadi Party (SP) on Tuesday announced 16 candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections with Dimple Yadav, a sitting MP and wife of former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, fielded in Mainpuri.

Senior leader Dharmendra Yadav will contest from Budaun parliamentary constituency while party MP Shafiqur Rahman Barq has been fielded in Sambhal.

Ravidas Mehrotra, sitting MLA from Lucknow Central, has been named as the candidate from Lucknow. Akshay Yadav, son of senior SP leader Ramgopal Yadav, will contest from Firozabad.

Sitting SP MLA from Katehari in Ambedkarnagar district, Lalji Verma, has been named as party candidate from Ambedkarnagar

The announcement is seen as another blow to the INDIA bloc as it comes amid the seat-sharing talks between the SP, Congress and Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD).

The SP has offered 11 seats to the Congress and seven seats to the RLD, but both the parties appeared unsatisfied with the proposal. The Congress has demanded at least 22 seats, while the RLD wants eight.

According to RLD leaders, the SP has offered them the seats of Baghpat, Muzaffarnagar, Mathura, Kairana, Hathras, Bijnor and Amroha.

UP has 80 Lok Sabha seats of which SP has three MPs and the Bahujan Samaj Party has 10. Sonia Gandhi is the lone Congress MP from the state representing Rae Bareli constituency.  The Apna Dal (Sonelal) has two Lok Sabha MPs, while the BJP won 64 seats in the state.