In Kannauj, Akhilesh Yadav Looks To Win Back Party Fortress From BJP
NDTV
The Samajwadi Party had held the seat since 1998, but lost it to the BJP's Subrat Pathak in 2019.
A Samajwadi Party fortress since 1998, the Kannauj Lok Sabha constituency was breached by the BJP in 2019, when Subrat Pathak won by a margin of about 12,000 votes, narrowly defeating Dimple Yadav, wife of Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav.
Ending weeks of speculation, Mr Yadav has now decided to throw his hat in the ring from the constituency, replacing his nephew Tej Pratap Yadav, who had been declared the candidate earlier. While the decision was prompted by discontentment among Samajwadi Party workers, who wanted Akhilesh Yadav to contest from the seat, it has turned Kannauj into a prestige battle.
The BJP, which had secured 303 seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, has set itself an ambitious target of winning 370 on its own this time around, and the opposition INDIA bloc is looking to secure a majority so it can form the government. For both sides, the most important battleground is Uttar Pradesh, which sends 80 MPs to the Lok Sabha, the highest, by far, of any state.
