The Samajwadi Party is considering fielding Dimple Yadav, the former Kannauj MP and wife of Akhilesh Yadav, in the coming by-election to the Rampur assembly seat in Uttar Pradesh, which became vacant after its SP MLA, Azam Khan, won a Lok Sabha seat in May.

The SP’s calculation

Party sources said discussions were under way and a decision would be announced soon. A senior SP leader said that although the SP and BSP had parted company, the party hoped the BSP would not put up a candidate if Dimple contested, and expected the same of the Congress, warning that a split in votes could help the BJP.

Azam Khan’s stronghold

Azam Khan, who has won Rampur nine times, has held the seat since 1980 with the backing of different parties, and has won it as an SP candidate since the party was founded in 1992. Neither the BJP nor the BSP has ever won there. The BJP is nevertheless hopeful this time with Jaya Prada, who lost to Khan in the Lok Sabha election and has since been visiting Rampur regularly to prepare for the contest. Jaya Prada herself was elected Rampur MP in 2004 and 2009 on an SP ticket before moving to the BJP.

Dimple Yadav’s record

Dimple Yadav lost her first contest, the Firozabad bypoll in 2009, but was elected unopposed in the 2012 Kannauj Lok Sabha bypoll after Akhilesh vacated the seat on becoming Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. She held Kannauj in the 2014 general election but lost it in May to the BJP’s Subrat Pathak by about 12,000 votes.

See also: Samajwadi Party | Constituencies

Originally published on 16 July 2019. Rewritten on 9 October 2026.

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