Jailed Azam Khan Requests Akhilesh Yadav To Contest Lok Sabha Elections From Rampur: Samajwadi Party Sources

Since Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav met veteran party leader Azam Khan in Sitapur jail on Friday (24 March), speculations are rife that the former might contest the Lok Sabha elections from Rampur.

Azam Khan won the Lok Sabha elections from Rampur in 2019 but vacated this seat to become Rampur MLA in 2022. The seat was then won by BJP's Ghanshyam Singh Lodhi in by-polls.

However, Azam Khan could not keep his Assembly seat as well because he was disqualified after being sentenced to three years in jail in a 2019 hate speech case. This seat was also then won by the BJP.

It is now believed that Akhilesh Yadav is not going to nominate any candidate from Rampur without consulting Azam Khan and hence he went to jail to discuss.

However, party sources said that Azam Khan instead requested Yadav to contest from Rampur. Yadav has not agreed to it yet but if this happens, he would be contesting on two seats of Kannauj and Rampur.

Reportedly, Yadav also discussed other potential candidates with Khan. Outside jail, he told reporters that injustice is being done to Azam Khan and his family through false cases.