In a first, five members of Samajwadi Party (SP) founder and former chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav will be in the fray this Lok Sabha elections. With SP chief Akhilesh Yadav making it official that he will contest from Kannauj, the other four members of the Yadav first family who are contesting this election are his wife Dimple Yadav, cousins Dharmendra Yadav, Aditya Yadav and Akshay Yadav. On a closer look, the five seats are traditional SP strongholds and have a sizeable Yadav population. Dimple Yadav, Mainpuri The wife of the SP chief is the party’s safe bet for Mainpuri – a seat won by Mulayam Singh Yadav in 1996, 2009, 2014, and 2019. Mainpuri has a sizeable Yadav and Shakya population and the people there have supported the Yadav family by ensuring wins for Dharmendra Yadav and Tej Pratap Yadav in 2004 and 2014 bypoll, respectively. In 2019, Mulayam defeated BJP's Prem Singh Shakya by close to 1 lakh votes. After he died in 2022, her daughter-in-law Dimple contested the bypoll and defeated BJP's Raghuraj Singh Shakya by 2.88 lakh votes. Dimple, who is seeking reelection, will be up against BJP minister Jaiveer Singh, who is currently an MLA from Mainpuri Sadar seat. Dharmendra Yadav, Azamgarh The 45-year-old cousin of Akhilesh was initially chosen to contest from Badaun, but later was moved to Azamgarh, from where the SP chief had won in the 2019 elections. A former MP from Badaun – had won the seat in 2009 and 2014 - Dharmendra lost to the BJP from Azamgarh in 2022 bypoll, which was necessitated by Akhilesh resigning as an MP to continue as an MLA. Dharmendra lost narrowly to Bhojpuri actor and BJP candidate Dinesh Lal Yadav “Nirahua” - 8,679 votes. This time too, he will be facing BJP’s Nirahua. Dharmendra is the son of Mulayam's younger brother Abhay Ram Yadav. The constituency has a high percentage of Yadav and Muslim voters. Aditya Yadav, Badaun The 35-year-old son of Shivpal Yadav, the brother of Mulayam Singh Yadav, will be making his electoral debut from Badaun. In Badaun, the SP first fielded Dharmendra, then Shivpal, and eventually switched to Aditya after Shivpal lobbied for his son’s poll debut. The constituency has a sizeable number of Yadavs and Muslims – making it a safe seat for Aditya. Aditya will be facing BJP's first-time candidate Durvijay Singh Shakya, who is the regional president for the party’s Braj unit in UP. In 2019, BJP’s Sanghmitra Maurya, the daughter of Swami Prasad Maurya, who was then in the BJP, won the seat by defeating Dharmendra Yadav by 18,454 votes. Congress’s Saleem Sherwani – who is now supporting Aditya – had come third. Akshay Yadav, Firozabad The 34-year-old son of Mulayam's cousin Ram Gopal Yadav is contesting from Firozabad for the third consecutive Lok Sabha elections. During the Yadav family feud, Ram Gopal had stood with Akhilesh, and helped him take over the party's reins. Akshay won the 2014 Lok Sabha polls from Firozabad defeating BJP's S P Singh Baghel by 1.14 lakh votes. In 2019, Akshay lost the seat to BJP's Chandra Sen Jadon by 28,781 votes. The seat has a sizeable population of Yadavs and Thakurs. This time, Akshay will be taking on Vishwadeep Singh, a former BSP leader, who came third in 2014.
