Karhal seat of Mainpuri district is under discussion in the Uttar Pradesh assembly by-elections. The electoral contest here has become interesting due to the BJP’s move. This time there will be a direct war between the Saifai family and their son-in-law in Karhal. SP has given ticket to Tej Pratap Yadav, grandson of Ratan Singh, brother of late party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav and son of Ranveer Singh Yadav. While the BJP has opted for Anujesh Yadav, son-in-law of Mulayam’s elder brother Abhay Ram Yadav. It is clear that the contest between Karhal will not only be interesting, but a fight for political supremacy will also be seen between the relations.
By-elections are being held in Karhal seat following the resignation of SP president Akhilesh Yadav. Akhilesh is now the MP from Kannauj. He vacated this seat and declared his nephew Tej Pratap as the candidate from here. BJP has banked on Yadav’s face for the second time in Karhal. In early 2002, the BJP had fielded Sobran Singh Yadav as its candidate and he had won. However, he later joined the SP.
BJP candidate Anujesh Yadav is the husband of Sandhya Yadav, sister of SP MP Dharmendra Yadav. While SP candidate Tej Pratap is Anujesh’s nephew. In this context, there will be a war between uncle and nephew in Karhal.
Anujesh’s mother was a two-time MLA from SP.
Anujesh is a resident of Bharaul village of Firozabad district. This village is adjacent to the Mainpuri border and people are actively involved in politics here. While Tej Pratap Yadav is a member of the Saifai family. Another identity of Sandhya Yadav, wife of Anujesh and sister of Dharmendra, is that she is the first daughter of the Yadav family to enter politics. Sandhya has been the president of the Mainpuri district panchayat from 2015 to 2020. Meanwhile, Anujesh was a member of the district panchayat in Firozabad. Another thing in Anujesh’s political career is that his mother Urmila Yadav has been SP MLA twice from Ghiror assembly constituency of Mainpuri in the years 1993 and 1997. Anujesh’s family is considered to have a strong hold on this area.
Competition between Saifai family and relatives in Mainpuri
Karhal area is considered the stronghold of SP and the party has been dominant here since 1993. Akhilesh Yadav himself won this seat in the 2022 assembly elections. However, after winning the Lok Sabha from Kannauj in 2024, Akhilesh left this vacant seat. The number of Yadav voters in this assembly constituency is higher at around 1.25 lakh. There is also a factor that before entering politics, Mulayam Singh Yadav had served as a teacher at Jain Inter College in Karhal. Due to which people here have a close association with the Saifai family. Karhal is just four kilometers from Saifai, the ancestral village of the Yadav family and this area also forms part of the Mainpuri Lok Sabha constituency of Akhilesh Yadav’s wife Dimple Yadav.
Mulayam and Lalu’s son-in-law in the field
Anujesh is recognized as the son-in-law of Mulayam Singh Yadav in Mainpuri. Tej Pratap Yadav has also been an MP and son-in-law of RJD president and former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav. He is married to Lalu Yadav’s youngest daughter Rajlakshmi Yadav. That means there will be a fight between the sons-in-law of two veteran leaders in Karhal.
Why did Anujesh’s family leave SP?
Anujesh’s family has a deep relationship with the Yadav family of Saifai. Anujesh’s wife Sandhya Yadav was elected president of the Mainpuri district panchayat in 2015. Two years later, in 2017, a local SP faction moved a no-confidence motion against Sandhya Yadav. At the time of crisis, Sandhya got the support of the BJP and saved her seat. From here on, relations with the SP deteriorated and the party later expelled Sandhya and Anujesh.
Anujesh joined the BJP before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Later his wife also joined the BJP. When the Panchayat elections were held in the year 2021, the BJP gave the ticket to Sandhya as a district Panchayat member. However, he lost these elections. The rivalry between the Saifai family increased further when Anujesh left the SP and joined the BJP. On March 24, 2019, a letter in the name of Dharmendra Yadav went viral on social media. In this letter it was written: “Whoever joins the BJP cannot be my relative.” Dharmendra is the cousin of SP chief Akhilesh Yadav.
Before this, the SP had made Anujesh’s mother Urmila contest in the assembly elections several times and won twice. However, after 1997 he could not win the elections. In 2011 he left the SP and joined Congress. In 2012, Urmila contested the assembly elections as a Congress candidate, but lost. He later rejoined SP.
BJP’s big move to break into SP’s fort
Karhal area is considered Yadav dominated. This is the reason why this area works as a stronghold for SP. In the 2022 elections, the BJP fielded Union minister SP Baghel against Akhilesh Yadav, but the BJP had to face defeat. In such a situation, the BJP has made a big bet to corner the SP in Karhal and has fielded a member belonging to the Yadav family in the elections.
