Shivpal, Azam Khan in Samajwadi Party’s first list of 191 candidates

Lucknow, Jan 20: The ruling Samajwadi Party (SP) on Friday released a list of 191 candidates for the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, including Shivpal Singh Yadav from his traditiol seat Jaswantgar in Etawah and Mohammad Azam Khan from Rampur. The list is the first one issued by the Samajwadi Party after the Election Commission on January 16 allotted the ‘cycle’ symbol to the party faction led by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav.

Issued under the sigtures of SP’s new state President resh Uttam, the list includes Akhilesh’s close aide Arvind Singh Gope — from Ramgar in Barabanki — who was earlier denied a ticket by party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav. Shivpal Singh Yadav, a senior minister in the outgoing government, is the Chief Minister’s paterl uncle and was daggers drawn with him (Akhilesh) till not long ago. Senior minister Azam Khan’s son Abdullah Azam Khan has been made the party candidate from Swaar in Rampur.

Gangster-turned-politician Ateeq Ahmad has withdrawn from the fray, saying he does not want to embarrass the Chief Minister. In his place, Hasan Rumi has been fielded from Kanpur Cantt.

Gaurav Swaroop has been med for the Muzaffargar seat, Uma Kiran from Purkazi, hid Hasan from Kaira, Manish Chauhan from Shamli, Mukesh Chowdhary from Charthawal, Rafiq Ansari from Meerut and Aadil Chowdhary from Meerut (South). The ruling party’s candidates from constituencies neighbouring Delhi are Virendra Yadav from Sahibabad, Surendra Kumar from Muradgar, Sunil Chowdhary from Noida, Sujat Aalam from Bulandshahr, Pramod Tyagi from Budha, Rakesh Sharma from Shikarpur, nd Kishore Valmiki from Khurja, Subhash Pal from Barauli and Rakesh Singh from Charra. (IANS)