Uttar Pradesh polls 2022: One election, 4 Akhilesh Yadavs in fray

What's in a name? For three candidates in this Uttar Pradesh assembly election, being called Akhilesh Yadav might have helped them a bit in their fight. Besides the Samajwadi Party (SP) president, the Congress nominee from Bikapur, an independent from Gunnaur and the SP candidate from Mubarakpur also have the name Akhilesh Yadav, news agency PTI reported.

"I am getting good support in my constituency. People feel sympathetic towards me. I had lost the 2017 polls by a very thin margin. But now, they want Akhilesh Yadav to win. People say as (SP chief) Akhilesh Yadav will be chief minister, Akhilesh Yadav should also be Mubarakpur's MLA," PTI quoted the SP candidate as saying.

The announcement of a candidate by the name Akhilesh Yadav for Mubarakpur had created a flutter, with rumours spreading that the SP chief was fighting the polls from two constituencies, it added.

The Mubarakpur candidate said his father named him Akhilesh because the name his three brothers ended with "esh"— Awadhesh Yadav, Umesh Yadav and Amaresh Yadav, the PTI report said.

The SP president fought the polls in the third of the seven phase polls from Karhal, and his fate is sealed in electronic voting machines, with counting on March 10.

Mubarakpur in Azamgarh district goes to polls in the seventh phase on March 7 and in 2017, the SP nominee had lost to Bahujan Samaj Party's Shah Alam by 688 votes.

Incidentally, the SP president is a Lok Sabha member from Azamgarh.

The three Akhilesh Yadavs concurred that having the same name as that of the SP president has helped them in the polls.

Congress nominee from Bikapur and its Ayodhya district president, Akhilesh Yadav, said he joined the Congress in 2016 after moving out of the SP as he was noy given respect.

Recalling an interesting incident, he said, "A few days back, I was campaigning with my supporters in Bikapur. One of my supporters shouted 'Akhilesh bhaiyya zindabaad'. This prompted some SP supporters, who were in the vicinity to raise slogans in my support."

"Later, they realised that they are actually raising slogans in favour of a Congress candidate, Yadav said.

Some people also wonder how come the 'haath kaa panjaa' (Congress' poll symbol) has become the SP election symbol, Yadav said.

Lakhvendra Singh alias Akhilesh Yadav is testing the poll waters as an independent from Gunnaur in Sambhal district, which has already undergone voting.

He said though he was born Lakhvendra Singh, his grandmother used to call him as "Akhilesh", and gradually others also started calling him by that name.