UP bypolls: Samajwadi Party likely to field Azam Khan's wife from Rampur

Samajwadi Party is likely to field former state minister and party leader Azam Khan's wife Tanzeem Fatima in for the Rampur Lok Sabha bypoll in Uttar Pradesh, sources said.

Her nomination has come amid reports of a rift between Azam Khan and the SP chief Akhilesh Yadav.

Fatima, already a member of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly from Rampur, will be pitted against the BJP leader Ghanshyam Lodhi if she gets the party nomination.

Bahujan Samaj Party has decided to stay away from the Rampur parliamentary bypoll.

As per SP sources, Dharmendra Yadav will contest from the Azamgarh Lok Sabha constituency.

The Lok Sabha vacancies have been created by the resignation of former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav from Azamgarh, and Azam Khan from Rampur.

In Azamgarh, the BJP has decided to field Bhojpuri actor Dinesh Lal Yadav "Nirahua" from the seat which is dominated by the Other Backward Class (OBC) and the Muslim population. While the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has picked former MLA Shah Alam alias Guddu Jamali as its candidate.

Congress has announced that the party would not be contesting the bypolls.

The BJP retained power in Uttar Pradesh by winning 255 out of 403 constituencies, securing a 41.29 per cent vote share. Samajwadi Party came a distant second in the 2022 Uttar Pradesh election, securing 111 seats and getting 32.06 per cent votes. The two other major parties - Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Indian National Congress (INC) - were reduced to a single digit. BSP won one seat and Congress two seats.

( With inputs from ANI )