Last Day for Nominations: SP Lacks Candidate in Azam Khan's Rampur Stronghold

Last Day for Nominations: The Samajwadi Party (SP) has yet to announce a candidate for the Rampur seat, which was once the territory of its senior leader Azam Khan, just one day before the nominations close for the first phase of the Lok Sabha elections. The SP's Rampur unit announced on Tuesday evening that it would be boycotting the election in a letter.

As part of an apparent “consultation” about Rampur and surrounding seats, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav visited him in jail last week - for the first time since he was imprisoned. In the meeting, Khan requested that Akhilesh contest Rampur himself, citing "special circumstances" in the district.

In Rampur, one of eight Uttar Pradesh seats voting in the first phase on April 19, the SP had no candidate as of late Tuesday.

The SP's spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary said that the matter was not over, and that the call for the Rampur unit to boycott the election was only a suggestion. "The final decision will rest with Akhilesh," Chaudhary said.

According to him, the SP would have a candidate in the race by Wednesday, even if Akhilesh does not contest from Rampur.

On Wednesday, Lodhi will file his nomination.

SP Rampur district president Ajay Sagar wrote to party leaders asking them to boycott the elections in light of "atrocities" committed against local party workers, including false charges against them. In the letter, in Hindi, it was stated that “We felt it was important for the SP national president to visit Rampur to change this atmosphere. Who can forget what happened in the past two recent byelections (for Rampur Lok Sabha and Assembly seats)?”

Sagar added, “We have contested several elections, won and lost… but never got discouraged… An officer is continuing in the district against the rules of the Election Commission, with the sole goal of defeating (the SP)… In this atmosphere and situation, we boycott the current election. The party national president will take a decision about the election in Rampur.”

Khan was jailed in February 2020 in connection with alleged forgery of his son Abdullah Khan's birth certificate, in order for him to become eligible to run in elections.

After Khan contested and won the Assembly elections in May 2022, the Rampur Lok Sabha seat fell vacant.

In December 2022, Khan was re-arrested after being convicted of a hate speech charge during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, disqualifying him from standing for election as an MLA.

Khan and SP's turf was breached in both byelections by the BJP.

According to Asim Raja, the SP Rampur city president, who lost both the Rampur Lok Sabha and Assembly by-elections in 2022, they are powerless. In the last two or three years, the Rampur administration has captured the entire district and forced us to lose elections.”

Khan has been charged with 81 charges in Rampur since 2017 ranging from land-grabbing, cheating, criminal trespassing, and hate speech.

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