When namesakes haunted ‘Netaji’
Lucknow, Feb. 22: A ‘Mulayam Singh Yadav’ emerges every election season in Uttar Pradesh, and once even forced the real ‘Netaji’ to suffix his father’s name to assert his real electoral identity.
The Samajwadi Party 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 the namesakes sought to give a headache to the SP leader.
It was in 1989, when for the first time Mr Yadav 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 Mr Yadav family.
The situation continued in the Assembly elections of 1991 and 1993 as well.
Mr Yadav became MLA for the first time in 1967 (on SSP ticket), and had been MLA for eight terms.
According to the
A ‘Mulayam Singh Yadav’ emerges every election in UP, and once even forced the real ‘Netaji’ to suffix his father’s name to assert his identity
Election Commission data, in 1989, Mulayam Singh Yadav, son of Sughar Singh, was fielded by Janata Dal. He faced challenge from Mulayam Singh Yadav, son of Pattiram, an Independent candidate.
The ‘real’ Yadav bagged 65,597 votes (59.26 per cent), while his namesake could get only 1,032 votes (0.93 per cent). The situation continued in 1991 as well.
Mr Yadav, contesting on Janata Party’s symbol, won from Jaswantnagar, securing 47,765 votes (45.96 per cent), while his namesake could muster only 328 votes.
In the 1993 UP Assembly elections, Mr Yadav contested from three Assembly constituencies — Jaswantnagar (Etawah), Shikohabad (Firozabad) and Nidhauli Kalan (Etah) — and won all on SP ticket.
By this time, the Samajwadi Party was formed, and elections were held after the Ram temple agitation.