Search for Mainpuri stops at home, Mulayam’s grandnephew candidate

At present, Tej is Saifai’s block head, the post which was held by his father. Tej was also Mainpuri in-charge during the elections.

Significantly, Mainpuri has also served as the launching pad of Mulayam’s nephew Dharmendra Yadav, who contested and won the seat in 2004 Lok Sabha elections. Mulayam, who has won the seat four times since 1996, emerged the winner this year by a margin of over 3.5 lakh votes.

With Tej’s candidature, Mulayam, or rather the SP, has again reposed faith in the “family”.

The Yadavs already total four in Parliament. Besides Mulayam, daughter-in-law Dimple and nephews Dharmendra and Akshay are the other MPs from the state.

The party has also announced the candidates for other Assembly constituencies. These include Sanjay Garg from Saharanpur (vacated after BJP’s Raghav Lakhanpal became an MP); Nahid Hasan from Kairana; Nawab Jaan Khan from Thakurdwara; Shivcharan Prajapati from Hamirpur; and former MLA Shabbir Ahmed Balmiki from Balha.

The party is yet to announce candidates for the remaining seven Assembly seats.