Samajwadi Party announces candidates for UP legislative council polls

Lucknow, Feb 2: The ruling Samajwadi Party (SP) in Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday announced candidates for the legislative council polls to be held this month. The list of 31 candidates also includes And Bhadauria and Sunil Singh Yadav — both were recently expelled from the SP by party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav for alleged anti-party activities, but were taken back after Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav insisted. Among the other candidates are Akshay Pratap Singh, cousin of Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiyya; Brij Kishore Singh, brother of minister Raj Kishore Singh; former education official Basudev Yadav and Parvez Ali, who is the son of minister Mehboob Ali. Rama Niranjan has been fielded from Jhansi, Shailendra Pratap from Sultanpur, Ramesh Mishra from Hamirpur, Banwari Singh Yadav from Badaun, Thakur Udaiveer Singh from Mathura, Iqhlaq from Bahraich, Amir Chandra from Varasi, Shashank Yadav from Lakhimpur Kheri, Omwati Yadav from Aligarh, Ahay Yadav from Pilibhit, Jai Prakash Yadav from Gorakhpur, Arvind Yadav from Mainpuri and Hera Lal Yadav from Faizabad, besides others. (IANS)