Samajwadi Party (SP) declared that Akhilesh Yadav will contest the upcoming Assembly elections from Karhal seat in Mainpuri district. This will be the first Assembly election for the SP supremo. The announcement was dropped in after BJP announced Yogi Adityanath electing polls from the Gorakhpur seat.

Both Akhilesh Yadav and Yogi Adityanath had been MPs but never contested Assembly elections before. They took the route of Vidhan Parishad to become members of the UP Legislative Assembly and then CM.

Mainpuri is seen as a stronghold for the Yadav family. The founder of SP, Mulayam Singh Yadav, has won several times in the Lok Sabha elections from this constituency. However, in the 2002 election, BJP took the lead. From 2007 onward, SP has come victorious on this seat. At present Sobaran Singh Yadav is sitting MLA. As an election debut, Karhal appears to be a safe bet for Akhilesh Yadav.

Akhilesh is currently an MP from Azamgarh. Earlier, the SP president said he will contest from any seat which party decides from him. He also said many options are available for him like Sambhal, Firozabad, Etah, Mainpuri, Shahjahanpur and Azamgarh.

“We are definitely ahead of the BJP. And if I contest polls, it (polling date) will also be ahead of them.” Yadav said during a press conference.

The polling date for the Karhal seat is on February 20, 2022, in the third phase.

Karhal is one of the five assembly segments in Mainpuri, the constituency represented by Mulayam Singh Yadav in parliament five times. So, with every passing day, new developments can be seen in UP polls and competition is getting fierce between political parties.