VARANASI: Samajwadi Party supremo Akhilesh Yadav cleared he will not contest assembly elections.“I become CM when don’t contest elections. In past I had gone to swear in as CM while being a Lok Sabha member. This time also I will go to swear in as CM from Lok Sabha”, said Akhilesh while replying whether he will try his luck from any seat in Varanasi.On a lighter note he said in Kashi people see Shubh Muhurt and care about timing to file nomination, so that I will do what is Shubh for me.Earlier, Akhilesh Yadav had attacked the BJP following the Uttar Pradesh MLC election results, saying the party’s “double-engine” government had been reduced to “double zero” in key constituencies.The BJP won six of the 11 seats, while the SP secured five. The biggest setback for the BJP came in Varanasi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s parliamentary constituency, where the SP won both the Teachers’ and Graduates’ seats.Akhilesh said the results reflected growing anger among teachers, students and educated unemployed graduates ahead of the 2027 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.
Akhilesh Yadav: From youngest UP CM to SP’s comeback bid
Akhilesh Yadav became Uttar Pradesh’s chief minister in March 2012 at the age of 38, after the Samajwadi Party (SP) won 224 of the 403 Assembly seats. He had not contested the Assembly election and entered the state legislature through the Legislative Council. However, the SP lost power in 2017, winning only 47 seats against the BJP’s 312. Yogi Adityanath, then a five-term Lok Sabha MP from Gorakhpur, took over as chief minister on March 19, 2017.In the 2022 Assembly elections, Yadav contested from Karhal for the first time and defeated BJP candidate SP Singh Baghel by 67,594 votes. The SP improved its tally to 111 seats but failed to secure a majority, while the BJP retained power with 255 seats. Adityanath, who contested from Gorakhpur Urban, won his first Assembly election and returned as chief minister for a second consecutive term on March 25, 2022. He became the first UP chief minister in 37 years to return to power after completing a full five-year term.
UP Assembly elections 2027: SP announces manifesto date
The 403-member Uttar Pradesh Assembly is scheduled to go to polls in 2027. The Samajwadi Party has announced that it will release its ‘Jan-Man Manifesto’ for the elections on November 26, coinciding with Constitution Day.