After Nishad party snub, Akhilesh fields same community candidates on 2 seats

Lucknow, Mar 30: Hours after Nishad party's exit from the alliance, Samajwadi Party in a swift move replaced its candidates for Gorakhpur and Kanpur Lok Sabha constituencies. Interestingly, both the candidates belong to Nishad community.

The party has fielded Rambhuyan Nishad from Gorakhpur and Ram Kumar from Kanpur.

The development comes a day after the Nishad Party quit the SP-Bahujan Samaj Party-Rashtriya Lok Dal alliance in the state.

The Nishad Party on Friday said that it was free to "look for other options." In Sanjay Nishad's meeting with Adityanath, his son and incumbent Gorakhpur MP Pravin was also present, as was UP minister Siddharth Nath Singh.

The SP has announced candidates for 29 out of the 37 seats it is contesting in the state. The BSP is contesting on 38 and the RLD on three seats.

The seven-phased polls in Uttar Pradesh is set from April 11 to May 19.