The Samajwadi Party, a major constituent of the Opposition INDIA bloc in Uttar Pradesh, as in the case of Moradabad, Rampur and Meerut, is clueless about who, within the family, could fit the bill as a party’s candidate from the Badaun seat.

The polling in Badaun is scheduled to be held in the third phase where nomination process will commence from April 12.

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The SP first nominated Dharmendra Yadav from Badaun Lok Sabha constituency but later replaced him with Shivpal Singh Yadav as its candidate. And now it seems Aditya Yadav, son of Shivpal Singh Yadav, could be the candidate in place of his father. Proposals passed in the SP workers’ conference in Sahaswan, Badaun and Gunnaur assembly constituencies went in favour of Aditya.

After Shivpal Yadav left for Lucknow, Aditya Yadav has taken over the entire command of the party’s poll campaign. He has been holding public meetings for the past three days.

When asked who would be the candidate from Badaun, Aditya said the party’s National President Akhilesh Yadav would take a decision soon.

Akhilesh Yadav’s cousin, Dharmendra Yadav, contested Badaun in 2009 for the first time and won. In 2014, he retained the seat. But in 2019, Dharmendra lost to BJP’s Sanghamitra Maurya, daughter of Swami Prasad Maurya.

Dharmendra Yadav is now aspiring for the fourth term and party workers too are in his favour, but some Akhilesh Yadav are opposed to him. They wrote to the SP chief expressing their opposition to Dharmendra Yadav contesting the Badaun seat. In response to the missive, the SP chief announced the name of his uncle Shivpal Singh Yadav from Badaun.

However, Shivpal was not interested in contesting the seat. After 22 days of the announcement of candidature and visit to Badaun, he wanted to opt out in favour of his son, Aditya. But when a decision to field Aditya could not be taken at the higher level, he agreed to contest the elections himself.

Later, Shivpal campaigned in Badaun with his son for about seven days. Conferences were held in Sahaswan, Badaun and Gunnaur, in which the workers vociferously raised the demand for Aditya as a candidate for Badaun.

After the workers made their demand known, Shivpal Singh Yadav, former MP Veerpal Singh Yadav and former Dharmendra Yadav said they would take up Aditya Yadav’s case with the party’s national president in keeping with the sentiments of the workers.

On April 2, Shivpal Singh Yadav returned to Lucknow and met Akhilesh Yadav to convey the sentiments of the workers.

SP’s Badaun District President Ashish Yadav said the election campaign is going on but the issue of frequent change of candidates persists at the level of the National President. “We can only accept the person authorised by the party to contest,” he added.