Defected Congress leaders allege Akhilesh Yadav denied them seats last minute

Saharanpur: Former Congress leader Imran Masood and Masood Akhtar, MLA from Saharanpur Dehat, who recently switched to Samajwadi Party got rejected for Assembly ticket at the last moment. In a social media post, the MLA alleged that Akhilesh Yadav has not allotted him a ticket for the upcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls.

Masood Akhtar had earlier contested as a Congress candidate in the last election, went to join the Samajwadi Party with Imran Masood. He said that "We met Akhilesh Yadav twice and everything was fine for two days and Akhilesh Yadav himself has assured us to give respect. But on the third day, when we were waiting for our turn to meet Akhilesh Yadav we got to know that the party ticket was allotted to someone else. After that, we decided to return back to Saharanpur."

Masood Akhtar said that he will soon hold a meeting and form the future strategy to contest the upcoming polls. On 12 January, Akhtar said that he had decided to join Samajwadi Party to defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as the election has turned into BJP vs SP.

Elections for the 403 Assembly constituencies in Uttar Pradesh will be held in seven phases starting February 10. The polling in Uttar Pradesh will be held on February 10, 14, 20, 23, 27, and March 3 and 7 in seven phases. The counting of votes will take place on March 10.