After Rampur And Moradabad, Samajwadi Party Changes Meerut Candidate Again, On Last Day Of Nomination Filing

After Rampur and Moradabad, the Samajwadi Party (SP) candidate in Meerut was also changed on the last day of nomination filing.

Atul Pradhan was declared as a candidate from Meerut, replacing Bhanu Pratap Singh on 1 April. He then filed his nomination papers on Wednesday.

However, SP leader Yogesh Verma's wife and former Meerut mayor Sunita Verma filed her nomination papers a day later, on Thursday (4 April).

Atul Pradhan is sitting Sardhana MLA, while Yogesh Verma lost the 2022 Assembly elections from Hastinapur by a margin of around 7,000 votes.

Yogesh Verma contested in 2017 too, but as a Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) candidate, and lost then also. Soon after, his wife Sunita was elected as Meerut mayor as a BSP candidate.

Yogesh Verma was elected as a BSP MLA from Hastinapur in 2007. However, the husband-wife duo switched their allegiance to Akhilesh Yadav-led SP in 2021.

It was reported that Yogesh Verma carried the SP symbol from Lucknow by helicopter for the nomination filing of his wife. Meanwhile, Atul Pradhan has accepted the party's decision.

Earlier it was believed that Pradhan was chosen for his Gujjar background and Singh's candidature was canceled over lack of local backing and his status as an outsider.

The Verma couple belongs to a Scheduled Caste (SC). Meerut has a huge population of Muslims, Jats, Gujjars, and SCs, which makes it a complex electoral landscape.

The BJP candidate from here is Arun Govil, who became famous as 'Ram' of the highly popular Television show Ramanand Sagar's Ramayana.

The BJP has been holding this seat since 2009. However, the three-time MP Rajendra Agrawal was dropped this time. The voting in Meerut will take place on 26 April and the counting will be held on 4 June.

Earlier, Moradabad and Rampur also witnessed a high-voltage drama on the last day of nomination filing as apparent two SP candidates on each of these seats had filed nominations.

Read this for more details: Moradabad And Rampur: How Samajwadi Party Self-Sabotaged Its Chances In Two Strongholds