Akhilesh Yadav Resigns From Karhal Assembly Seat, Retains Family Bastion Kannauj

New Delhi: Samajwadi Party supremo Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday, June 12, resigned from the membership of Uttar Pradesh legislative assembly, retaining his Lok Sabha constituency. Akhilesh Yadav resigned from Karhal assembly seat, as he won the Kannauj parliamentary seat in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections. 

On Tuesday, Yadav had said that he will be resigning from Uttar Pradesh's Karhal Assembly seat as he has to leave of the two seats he holds. Akhilesh Yadav had won the Karhal assembly seat in 2022 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections. 

"I have met the workers of Karhal and Mainpuri and told them that as I have won the elections from 2 seats, I have to leave a seat. So I will inform you about leaving the seat of Vidhan Sabha soon," Akhilesh Yadav said in a press conference on Tuesday. As he has resigned from the assembly, he will no longer remain the leader of Opposition. Upon being asked about the next leader of opposition, Akhilesh on Tuesday said, “Decision will be taken by the party in a way that is beneficial for the party and increases the party's vote share.”

Record Victory From Kannauj in 2024 LS Polls 

Akhilesh Yadav won the Kanauj Lok Sabha seat with a margin of over 1,70,000 votes, defeating his nearest rival of BJP,  Subrat Pathak.  Akhilesh Yadav got 6,42,292 votes while Subrat Pathak polled 4,71,370 votes, as per the Election Commission of India. BSP’s Imran Bin Zafar got 81,639 votes. In this Lok Sabha elections, Samajwadi Party emerged as the third largest party. winning 37 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh. 

Kannauj Remains Samajwadi Bastion 

Kannauj has traditionally been a Samajwadi Party bastion with Akhilesh Yadav winning the seat first in 2000. He later went on to represent Kannauj in 2004 and 2009. He vacated the seat after he became the Uttar Pradesh chief minister in 2012, and his wife Dimple Yadav won the by-election unopposed. Dimple also won in 2014 but lost the seat to BJP's Subrat Pathak in 2019.

Karhal: Akhilesh's First Battle in Assembly Polls 

Akhilesh Yadav had contested the Karhal assembly seat in the 2022 Uttar Pradesh elections. Considered to be a stronghold of the Samajwadi Party, Akhilesh won Karhal with a margin of over 67,504 votes. This was the first time that Akhilesh Yadav contested the state assembly polls. 

Following his victory, he resigned from as the MP of Azamgarh, an office he was holding then, and took up the role of Leader of Opposition in the Uttar Pradesh assembly.