Lucknow: A new 'Mulayam Singh Yadav' emerges each election season in Uttar Pradesh and once even forced 'Netaji' to suffix his father's name to assert his real electoral identity.
The SP patron is not in the fray this time and hopefully, his namesakes may also be taking a break from elections. But this was not so in the past when namesakes sought to give a headache to the Samajwadi Party leader.
It was in 1989 when for the first time Mulayam was compelled to suffix his father's name (Sughar Singh) to assert his "real electoral" identity, when his namesake challenged him from Jaswantnagar Assembly constituency -- the bastion of Yadav family.
According to the Election Commission data, in 1989, Mulayam Singh Yadav s/o Sughar Singh was fielded by Janta Dal.
Interestingly, he was challenged by a Mulayam Singh Yadav s/o Pattiram, an independent candidate.
Mulayam bagged 65,597 votes (59.26%), while his namesake could get only 1,032 votes (0.93%).
The predicament continued in the assembly elections of 1991 and 1993 as well.
In 1991, Mulayam, contesting on Janata Party symbol, won from Jaswantnagar securing 47,765 votes (45.96%), while his namesake could muster only 328 votes.
The 1991 election also saw the emergence of another Mulayam Singh, again an independent candidate, in Barauli Assembly constituency. But he could only muster 218 votes (0.25%).
In the 1993 UP assembly elections, Mulayam contested from three assembly constituencies Jaswantnagar (Etawah), Shikohabad (Firozabad) and Nidhauli Kalan (Etah) - and won all of them on Samajwadi Party tickets which had been formed by that time.
Nevertheless, it was not without challenges as 'Netaji', as Mulayam is fondly known among his supporters, had namesakes contesting in each of the three assembly seats.
In Jaswantnagar, Mulayam bagged the lion's share of 60,242 votes (46.88%), while his namesake and independent candidate got 192 votes (0.15%).
Shikohabad saw Mulayam garnering 55,249 votes (42.43%), while his namesake (Mulayam Singh Yadav s/o Rustam Singh) got 154 votes (0.12%).
