In the run up to the Lok Sabha elections 2024, Akhilesh Yadav led Samajwadi Party today announced its first list for the parliamentary polls. In the first list, the SP annouced names of 16 candidates including Dimple Yadav, wife of Akhilesh Yadav. Dimple Yadav is currently a member of Lok Sabha from the Mainpuri seat. The announcement of seats by the party comes after the Samajwadi Party claimed a seat-sharing deal with Congress giving the latter 11 Lok Sabha seats out of the 80 in the Uttar Pradesh. By announcing the first list, the SP has become first party to announce candidates for the Lok Sabha seats.
In a move that may alienate Congress, the SP also fielded its candidate on Lucknow seat which Congress was demanding from Akhilesh Yadav. The SP fielded Ravidas Mehrotra from the seat. In this first list, the Samajwadi Party has fielded three family members of Akhilesh Yadav – wife Dimple Yadav from Mainpuri, Akshay Yadav from Firozabad and Dharmendra Yadav from Badayun. The party also fielded Shafiqur Rahman Barq from the Sambhal Lok Sabha seat.
— Samajwadi Party (@samajwadiparty) January 30, 2024
In the first list of the Samajwadi Party (SP), there are 11 candidates from the Other Backward Classes (OBC), 1 Muslim, 1 Dalit, 1 Thakur, 1 Tandon, and 1 Khatri. Among the 11 OBC candidates in the tickets, there are 4 Kurmi, 3 Yadav, 2 Shakya, 1 Nishad, and 1 Pal. SP has given a ticket to a Dalit candidate for the Ayodhya Lok Sabha seat (General category). For the first time in Etah and Farrukhabad, SP has given tickets to leaders from the Shakya community instead of Yadavs.
Samajwadi Party has offered seven seats to Rashtriya Lok Dal and 11 seats to Congress. In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the NDA had won 64 seats, the Bahujan Samaj Party of Mayawati 10 seats, Samajwadi Party five seats, and Congress one seat. The BJP is likely to contest the Lok Sabha polls in Uttar Pradesh in alliance with Apna Dal (S) and Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party.