Akhilesh Yadav announces not contesting UP elections, party clarifies

Lucknow : Former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Monday announced that he will not be contesting the upcoming UP elections; however, the party soon came with a clarification that the decision will be taken later after a collective discussion.

Akhilesh Yadav was quoted by Press Trust of India as saying: "I will not be contesting the assembly election myself".

The former Chief Minister is a Samajwadi Party MP from Azamgarh and has never contested a state election.

Soon after the news came to light, the party released a statement saying that the decision on this will be taken later. "BJP will be wiped out of Uttar Pradesh. The people of UP are with Samajwadi Party. Whether or not Akhilesh Yadav will contest the assembly election will be decided by the party," Samajwadi Party's Aashish Yadav, a close aide of the former UP Chief Minister, tweeted.

Akhilesh Yadav did not contest the 2017 or 2012 election either.

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