Subrata Pathak, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Member of Parliament from Kannauj, Uttar Pradesh, has sparked controversy by comparing his upcoming electoral battle with Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav to a high-stakes cricket match between India and Pakistan. Yadav is set to file his nomination for the Kannauj Lok Sabha constituency today, following the party’s initial announcement of another candidate for the seat just three days ago.
Pathak remarked that elections are a form of celebration in a democracy and should be intriguing. He said, “When elections are held they should be interesting… When Akhilesh Yadav sent Tej Pratap here, he understood… If the match had been with Tej Pratap, it would have been like India vs Japan’s cricket match. Now the match would be like India vs Pakistan (Subrata Pathak against Akhilesh Yadav).”
In the 2019 general elections, Subrata Pathak defeated Dimple Yadav, Akhilesh Yadav’s wife, in Kannauj, making the upcoming election a highly anticipated rematch.
The Samajwadi Party announced on X that Akhilesh Yadav would file his nomination papers from the Kannauj Lok Sabha seat today at noon. The SP chief expressed confidence in his party’s victory, stating, “The question here is of historic victory from the seat. The BJP will become history in this election as people have made up their mind for the INDIA bloc. People are going to vote against the NDA,” he told PTI.
The change in candidacy came after the party had originally declared Akhilesh’s nephew, Tej Pratap Yadav, as its nominee for Kannauj. Tej Pratap, the son-in-law of RJD leader Lalu Prasad Yadav, served as the MP for Mainpuri between 2014 and 2019.
Akhilesh Yadav is no stranger to the Kannauj constituency, having won the seat three times—in 2000, 2004, and 2009. He vacated the seat in 2012 when he became the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh. His wife, Dimple Yadav, succeeded him as the MP of Kannauj, serving until 2019.
The upcoming contest between Pathak and Yadav has drawn considerable attention due to its high stakes and historical context. As Yadav prepares to file his nomination, the political landscape in Uttar Pradesh is poised for a heated electoral battle, with both the BJP and the Samajwadi Party looking to solidify their positions ahead of the general elections.
