UP polls: SP announces candidates for 159 seats; Akhilesh fields Azam Khan from Rampur

The Samajwadi Party on Monday announced candidates on 159 seats for the seven-phase Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh to be held from 10 February 10 to 7 March.Shivpal Singh Yadav has been named as a candidate while Akhilesh Yadav will contest from Karhal in Mainpuri.Samajwadi Party MP Mohd Azam Khan has been named as a candidate from Rampur, while Abdullah Azam will be the party's nominee from Suar in Rampur. Some turncoats who have been given tickets include Supriya Aron from Congress, Daddu Prasad from BSP, and Brijendra Prajapati from BJP. A party spokesman said that the candidates on the remaining seats would be announced soon.Akhilesh Yadav today said that opinion surveys are favouring BJP ahead of elections and termed them as 'opium polls'. "These are not opinion polls. These are opium polls. We don't know in what drugged state they are showing such figures and data," Yadav told NDTV."They will run fake videos, make false promises and put out fake ads. They showed a Bengal flyover in UP. They were showing Chinese airports. They were showing a US office in their ads. Their every promise was a jumla," added Yadav.Yadav, who was questioned and attacked by CM Yogi Adityanath on his promise of providing electricity in UP, retorted, "What does the Chief Minister know about electricity factors? There is no bigger a liar than the CM. He should tell us whether he has set up a single electricity unit in the past four-and-a-half years."BJP had also slammed Yadav for his reported comments that China is India’s real enemy while Pakistan is a 'political enemy'.To this, Yadav said, "I said the same on Pakistan that our late Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat used to say. He had said that China is our biggest enemy. Can I not quote Bipin Rawat?"Along with Yadav, Samajwadi Party patron Mulayam Singh Yadav and new entrant Swami Prasad Maurya are among the 30 star campaigners for the UP Assembly election.National vice-president Kiranmay Nanda, principal general secretary Ramgopal Yadav, Rajya Sabha MP Jaya Bachchan, national executive member Javed Ali Khan, Samajwadi Yuvjan Sabha president Mohammad Fahad, Uttar Pradesh unit chief Naresh Uttam Patel, leader of opposition in the Assembly Ramgobind Chaudhary are other campaigners.The 403-member UP Assembly will go to the polls from 10 February. In the first of the seven phases, polling will be held in 58 assembly constituencies spread over 11 districts on February 10.The districts which are going to poll in the first phase are Shamli, Muzaffarnagar, Baghpat, Meerut, Ghaziabad, Gautam Buddh Nagar, Hapur, Bulandshahr, Aligarh, Mathura and Agra.The counting of votes will be taken up on March 10.With inputs from agenciesRead all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News,India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.