Akhilesh Yadav
– Photo : Amar Ujala
Expansion
This seat has always been lucky for Akhilesh Yadav, who started his parliamentary innings again from Kannauj after 15 years. After starting his second innings from here, not only did he succeed in regaining his stronghold, but SP also emerged as the third largest party in the country.
Whenever Akhilesh Yadav contested elections from Kannauj, the party achieved great success. He started his political career from here in the by-election held in the year 2000. He reached the Parliament for the first time by winning the seat vacated by his father Mulayam Singh Yadav. In the 2004 elections, not only did he himself win by a margin of about three lakh votes, but at that time SP became the largest party in the state.
In the 2009 Lok Sabha elections too, SP had become the largest party in the state. This time too, not only did they make a record of winning the election from this seat for the maximum number of times, i.e. four times, but SP has again emerged as the largest party in the state and the third largest party in the country. SP district president Kaleem Khan says, party chief Akhilesh Yadav will raise his voice as the MP of Kannauj.
He has been expressing his affection for Kannauj… Not only during the election but even before that, Akhilesh has been sharing his relationship with Kannauj with warmth. During the election campaign, he had boosted the morale of the old workers by sharing the memories of his first election. Even before that, he has said that he started politics from here. I know every village and street here, I can never leave it.
For the first time, he himself took the certificate of victory… Another special thing was seen in this election, which indicates that Akhilesh is connected to Kannauj. After winning three times before this, he never came here to take the certificate of victory. This time, on the second day of the result, he came from Lucknow to the Collectorate and took the certificate of victory from DM Shubhrant Shukla.
The period of speculation continues
Political speculations about Akhilesh’s stand on Kannauj continued throughout the day. In the 2009 elections, Akhilesh had won the election from Kannauj as well as Firozabad parliamentary seat. He had got a bigger victory in Kannauj than Firozabad. Therefore, he had resigned from Firozabad while retaining the Kannauj seat. This time he is an MLA from Karhal and MP from Kannauj.
On becoming the Chief Minister, he had to resign from the post of MP from Kannauj
When SP got majority in the state in the 2012 assembly elections, Akhilesh Yadav became the Chief Minister. At that time he was an MP from Kannauj. As he took over the responsibility of the Chief Minister, he had to leave the membership of Parliament. In such a situation, he resigned from here. To maintain his relationship with this place, he made his wife Dimple Yadav contest the by-election on the seat he had vacated. Then she was elected MP unopposed.