The Samajwadi Party (SP) has fielded Tej Pratap Singh Yadav for the parliamentary seat in Uttar Pradesh, putting an end to rumours that its chief, Akhilesh Yadav, would contest from Kannauj.

Party leader Akhilesh Yadav and his spouse Dimple previously held the seat.

RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav’s son-in-law is Tej Pratap, a former MP from Mainpuri and Akhilesh Yadav’s nephew. The former Mainpuri MP has tied the knot with Raj Laxmi Yadav, Lalu’s daughter.

Ranveer Singh, the brother of SP founder Mulayam Singh Yadav, is the grandfather of Tej Pratap. From 2014 to 2019, he was the MP for Mainpuri.

In addition to Tej Pratap, the Yadav family is running for the Lok Sabha seats in Mainpuri, Azamgarh, Badaun, and Ferozabad.

In opposition to Neeraj Shekhar of the BJP, the Party has put up Sanatan Pandey of Ballia.

Pandey had previously run from this location in 2019 on the SP ticket, but Virendra Singh Mast of the BJP defeated him.

Son of former prime minister Chandra Shekhar, Neeraj Shekhar served as a member of parliament for the state of Rajasthan from 2007 to 2014, representing SP from Ballia, the seat his father had previously held.

Shekhar was nominated to the Rajya Sabha in 2014 but lost the polls to his BJP opponent. After the SP decided not to field him in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, he left the party and joined the BJP, which promoted him to the Upper House of Parliament.

On June 1, elections will be held in the Ballia Lok Sabha constituency.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 62 of the 80 seats in the 2019 general elections. It also added two seats that its ally Apna Dal (S) won. Ten seats were won by Mayawati’s BSP and five by Akhilesh Yadav’s SP. In contrast, the Congress party managed to secure a mere one seat.

Meanwhile, Akhilesh Yadav on Monday lashed out PM Modi accsuing him of not having respect for the constitution.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Mukesh Dalal is elected unopposed from Gujarat’s Surat Lok Sabha constituency after all other contenders withdrew their candidature.

Gujrat BJP chief CR Paatil took to hi social media account X, formerly Twitter, and congratulated Dalal for being elected unopposed.

This latest developmnet comes after the cancellation of two Congress candidates’ nominations on Sunday and the withdrawal of eight more on Monday.

The Congress candidate for the Surat Lok Sabha constituency, Nilesh Kumbhani, had his nomination form canceled since he was unable to produce even one of his three proposers before the election commissioner.

The differences in three proposers’ signatures on Kumbhani’s nomination form had drawn scrutiny from the BJP.

The Congress’s replacement candidate from Surat, Suresh Padsala, had his nomination form nullified as well, which eliminated the party from the race in the city.

Returning Officer Sourabh Pardhi issued an order stating that the four nomination forms that Kumbhani and Padsala had presented were refused because there were initially found differences in the proposers’ signatures, making them seem fake.

Pardhi’s order also mentioned that the proposers acknowledged having signed the forms themselves in their affidavits. It should be noted that Kumbhani’s three proposers were related to him.

Nilesh Kumbhani was given a day by the Returning Officer to submit his response following the proposers’ claim. The congressional candidate arrived at the polling place with his representative; however, none of his three proposers showed up.

According to the order, the Congress candidate’s attorney had requested that the camera tape be checked, and even their presence was not discovered.

Meanwhile, the Congress said that everyone was afraid of the government’s threat and accused the ruling BJP of being involved in dirty play.

Congress leader and activist Babu Mangukiya said that Kumbhani’s three proposers had been abducted, and he suggested that the Returning Officer look into this matter rather than the validity of the signed form.

According to Mangukiya, it was improper to cancel the form without first telechecking the signatures and determining whether or not the proposers’ signatures were accurate.

Delhi Chief Minister’s wife Sunita Kejriwal and Kalpana Soren, the wives of Arvind Kejriwal and Hemant Soren, along with at least 14 Opposition INDIA bloc leaders, including Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, party leader Rahul Gandhi would be present at the Ulgulan (uprising) Nyay rally on Sunday in Ranchi.

The arrests of former Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal by the Enforcement Directorate would be the main topic of discussion during the massive event.

The protest, which is scheduled to start at about 3 pm in Ranchi’s Prabhat Tara field, is expected to draw about 5 lakh people. The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) is organising it as a united display of strength in the amid the Lok Sabha elections.

Along with Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, Rashtriya Janata Dal supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav, and National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah, Sunita Kejriwal and Kalpana Soren are also anticipated to speak at the rally.

At the rally, posters depicting prominent members of the INDIA bloc have already been reached. These include Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Arvind Kejriwal, Mamata Banerjee, Hemant Soren, and his spouse Kalpana Soren.

Jharkhand Chief Minister Champai Soren made the following statement the day before the rally that they need to stop the dictatorship and save our democracy and the constitution. Everyone is aware of the events in Delhi and Jharkhand. At the massive gathering, they will reveal the Center’s autocratic methodology, he added.

Additionally, according to sources, the Chief Minister said that they had the mandate from the people in Hemant Soren’s name, but attempts were made to destabilize his government from the beginning, and finally he was sent to jail.

People in Delhi too encountered similar situation. They will inform the country about the Centre’s dictatorship from the Ulgulan rally dais, he continued.

Shiv Sena (UBT) leaders, Priyanka Chaturvedi said, they are united in this struggle against the BJP’s increasing dictatorship. The opposition is being prevented from operating as it should, and their goal is to silence it.