Dimple Yadav to file nomination for Mainpuri Lok Sabha bypoll

LUCKNOW: Ahead of filing papers for contesting the Mainpuri Lok Sabha bypoll, Samajwadi Party candidate Dimple Yadav on Monday said she dedicates the nomination to principles and values of party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav.

The 44-year-old wife of SP chief Akhilesh Yadav will file her nomination later in the day.

In a tweet in Hindi, she said, ''With salutation ('naman') to 'netaji' (Mulayam Singh Yadav), we dedicate today's nomination to his principles and values. Netaji's blessings have always been with us, and it will always remain.'' The bypolls for the Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat will be held on December 5 and the result will be declared on December 8.

Filing of nominations for the bypoll has started, and November 17 is the last date for filing of nomination.

The Mainpuri parliamentary seat fell vacant following the demise of Mulayam Singh Yadav on October 10.

The Mainpuri parliamentary constituency has five assembly segments of Mainpuri, Bhongaon, Kishni, Karhal and Jaswant Nagar. In the 2022 assembly elections, the SP won the Karhal, Kishni and the Jaswant Nagar seats, while the BJP won the Mainpuri and the Bhogaon seats.

The BJP has not announced its candidate on the seat yet, while it is still not clear whether Congress, BSP and Shivpal Yadav's Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party-Lohia (PSPL) will contest the polls or not.

Dimple Yadav had lost the Lok Sabha elections in 2019 to BJP candidate Subrat Pathak from Kannauj.

In 2019, Mulayam Singh Yadav won the seat by a margin of more than 94,000 votes over his nearest rival BJP's Prem Singh Shakya.

Akhilesh's Karhal assembly seat is part of Mainpuri Lok Sabha constituency and so is Jaswant Nagar, which is represented by Shivpal Yadav.

Dimple Yadav was elected unopposed from the Kannauj constituency to the Lok Sabha in 2012 after Akhilesh Yadav became the chief minister and resigned from the seat to enter the Uttar Pradesh legislative council.