Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav submitted his nomination papers for the Kannauj Lok Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh on Thursday, joining the electoral fray an hour after BJP candidate Subrat Pathak did the same.
Pathak, the incumbent MP from Kannauj, expressed confidence in his victory despite Yadav's entry into the race.
"Earlier, the contest was akin to India versus Nepal, and now it's like India versus Pakistan. Regardless, the victory will belong to India without any doubt," Pathak remarked to reporters.
The Samajwadi Party initially announced Tej Pratap Yadav as its candidate for Kannauj. However, on Wednesday evening, Akhilesh Yadav replaced him as the party's nominee.
Akhilesh Yadav has a longstanding connection with Kannauj, having begun his political journey there with a by-election victory in 2000. Subsequently, he secured the seat in 2004 and 2009.
His wife, Dimple Yadav, also represented Kannauj, winning in the 2012 bypoll and retaining the seat in 2014. Nevertheless, she lost to the BJP in 2019.
Sources within the party revealed that initially, Akhilesh had opted against contesting the elections to focus on campaigning. However, he reconsidered his decision following the insistence of party workers in Kannauj.
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