Is a dejected Akhilesh leaving Azamgarh open for BJP?

Samajwadi Party supremo seemingly is deeply saddened by his defeat in the recently concluded Uttar Pradesh assembly elections. Such is the pain that Akhilesh is not willing to accept his defeat and is leaving no stone unturned to oust UP CM Yogi Adityanath. However, the more he attempts to challenge CM Yogi, the more he falls flat on his face.

Despite this, he is back with yet another attempt to contest to challenge Yogi Adityanath. But, guess what, he has again fallen into his pit. We’ll tell you how?

Gave up Azamgarh MP for Karhal MLA

The storm of BJP swept the wave of the Samajwadi Party in the recently held assembly elections. The saffron party won a second consecutive term while SP emerged as opposition with a vote-share of 32.1%. However, Yadav, in his first-ever MLA election this year, won Karhal’s seat comfortably by nearly 70,000 votes. Moreover, in 2019, Akhilesh Yadav won from Azamgarh Lok Sabha seat by 2.6 lakh votes.

Thus, he has no option but to give up one seat to retain the other. Akhilesh Yadav has to give up either his Lok Sabha seat of Azamgarh or his first-ever Assembly seat of Karhal.

Two Samajwadi Party leaders, however, had earlier reported that “A feeling amongst the cadre was that Akhilesh should retain his MLA seat and lead the Opposition’s charge against the Yogi Adityanath government in the Assembly as the party wishes to build on the momentum for 2027.”

Akhilesh Yadav, thus, in light of the 2024 Lok Sabha battle, has stepped in with the decision to quit the Azamgarh seat. Besides, SP MP Azam Khan has also quit his Rampur Lok Sabha seat and both of them submitted their resignation to Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla.

Read more: Akhilesh Yadav is not the only one. There are many more like him in Indian Politics

Interacting with IANS, a senior SP functionary told that “The first priority of the party would be to retain Azamgarh and Rampur Lok Sabha seats when by-elections are held.”

BJP to benefit from this decision

Notably, Akhilesh Yadav had won Azamgarh in 2019 after getting 6.21 lakh votes, against BJP’s Dinesh Lal Yadav ‘Nirahua’ with 3.61 lakh votes. You see, with such a heavyweight share, Nirahua succeeded to mark his strong presence in Azamgarh.

Even though Akhilesh Yadav won the seat but BJP, too, has a great influence in Azamgarh. And now, with the prominent leader quitting the seat, it will become easier for BJP to get hold of the constituency whenever the by-poll elections will be held.

Thus, Akhilesh’s move to quit the Azamgarh seat to contest with Yogi Adityanath has somehow ended up helping BJP to gain one more Lok Sabha seat.