Lucknow, May 31 (IANS) The ruling Samajwadi Party (SP) in Uttar Pradesh Friday changed four candidates for the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. Party general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav said grassroot workers had offered “negative feedback” on three of the four.
According to a party communique, Aamir Aalam replaces Anuradha Chowdhary in Bijnor, Zafar Alam is the new SP candidate from Aligarh in place of Kajal Sharma, and Rahul Shukla is the new party candidate from Gonda, replacing Kirtivardhan Singh.
Hawaldar Singh is the new candidate from Azamgarh, replacing Balram Yadav, a minister in the Akhilesh Yadav government.
Balram Yadav had expressed his reluctance to take the plunge and told the party leadership so.
There were rumours that SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav’s younger son Prateek Yadav would contest polls from Azamgarh. Several local party workers had staged a sit-in, pitching for his candidature, but as the Yadav clan refused to let Prateek go into politics, the party settled for another candidate.
The party has also announced Firoz Aftab as its candidate from Saharanpur.
Ram Gopal Yadav said the party would be releasing its final list for the Lok Sabha polls next week.
The party has already announced the names of more than 60 candidates for the crucial state of Uttar Pradesh, which sends 80 members to the Lok Sabha.
