UP polls: No win-win situation for leaders' kin

Lucknow: For relatives who contested the just concluded Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, the results were a mixed bag of victory and defeat. The ruling Samajwadi Party which is known to promote families in politics in a big way did not have much to smile about.

While SP chief Akhilesh Yadav’s estranged uncle Shivpal Yadav won his Jaswantnagar with a margin of over 56,000 votes, Akhilesh’s cousin, Anurag Yadav, who is also the brother of SP MP Dharmendra Yadav, lost his maiden election from Sarojini Nagar.

Aparna Yadav, younger daughter-in-law of Mulayam Singh Yadav also lost from Lucknow Cantt seat.

Aditi Singh, daughter of five term MLA Akhilesh Singh, won her Rae Bareli on a Congress ticket while Aradhana Misra, daughter of Congress MP Pramod Tiwari , also retained her seat in Pratapgarh.

Union home minister Rajnath Singh’s son Pankaj Singh won from Noida and Rajasthan governor Kalyan Singh’s grandson Sandeep Singh won from Aligarh.

BJP MP Hukum Singh’s daughter Mrigangka Singh lost from Kairana. Kairana, it may be recalled, had shot into limelight last year when Mr Hukum Singh claimed that 346 Hindu families had migrated due to extortion threats by Muslims.

Senior SP leader Mohd Azam Khan not only retained his Rampur seat but ensured the success of his son Abdullah Azam from the Swar seat. Abdullah Azam, incidentally pushed another politician son, Nawab Kazim Ali (son of former Congress MP Begun Noor Bano), to the third position.

Dr Rita Bahuguna Joshi , daughter of former chief minister Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna, won her Lucknow Cantt. seat and Diddhartha Nath Singh, grandson of former prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, won form Allahabad.

Lalitesh Pati Tripathi, grandson of former UP chief minister Kamlapati Tripathi lost his Mirzapur seat to the BJP.