Shivpal, Azam Khan in Samajwadi Party’s first list of 191 candidates

Lucknow, Jan 20 (IANS) The ruling Samajwadi Party (SP) on Friday released a list of 191 candidates for the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, including Shivpal Singh Yadav from his traditional seat Jaswantnagar in Etawah and Mohammad Azam Khan from Rampur.

The list is the first one issued by the Samajwadi Party after the Election Commission on January 16 allotted the 'cycle' symbol to the party faction led by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav.

Issued under the signatures of SP's new state President Naresh Uttam, the list includes Akhilesh's close aide Arvind Singh Gope -- from Ramnagar in Barabanki -- who was earlier denied a ticket by party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav.

Shivpal Singh Yadav, a senior minister in the outgoing government, is the Chief Minister's paternal uncle and was daggers drawn with him (Akhilesh) till not long ago.

Senior minister Azam Khan's son Abdullah Azam Khan has been made the party candidate from Swaar in Rampur.

Gangster-turned-politician Ateeq Ahmad has withdrawn from the fray, saying he does not want to embarrass the Chief Minister. In his place, Hasan Rumi has been fielded from Kanpur Cantt.

Gaurav Swaroop has been named for the Muzaffarnagar seat, Uma Kiran from Purkazi, Nahid Hasan from Kairana, Manish Chauhan from Shamli, Mukesh Chowdhary from Charthawal, Rafiq Ansari from Meerut and Aadil Chowdhary from Meerut (South).

The ruling party's candidates from constituencies neighbouring Delhi are Virendra Yadav from Sahibabad, Surendra Kumar from Muradnagar, Sunil Chowdhary from Noida, Sujat Aalam from Bulandshahr, Pramod Tyagi from Budhana, Rakesh Sharma from Shikarpur, Nand Kishore Valmiki from Khurja, Subhash Pal from Barauli and Rakesh Singh from Charra.