The Samajwadi Party (SP) announced its first list of 16 candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha election. The Congress has made a claim for at least two of these 16 seats — Farrukhabad and Faizabad.
According to sources, senior Congress leader Salman Khurshid, who is a part of the Congress’ National Alliance Committee, wanted to contest from Farrukhabad, from where he has won twice — in 1991 and 2009. But, “How could they lay a claim on the seat, considering that in the 2022 Assembly election, in all five Assembly segments that make up the Lok Sabha seat, the Congress had polled around 8,000 votes,” a senior Samajwadi Party leader said.
The Congress wanted the Faizabad seat too, which its former State president Nirmal Khatri has won twice in the past. But SP leaders ruled that the Congress was not in a winnable position there.
