The upcoming Lok Sabha elections would be a significant test for the Yadav family in Uttar Pradesh, one of the largest families in Indian politics.
The Yadav family, which has a formidable presence in UP, has been able to instal two of its members — Mulayam Singh Yadav and his son Akhilesh Yadav — onto the UP Chief Minister’s chair in the last two decades.
At the height of its success in 2015-16, UP’s first family had 20 members in power. Five of them were Lok Sabha MPs, one was a Rajya Sabha member, one was an MLA, two were MLCs, and the rest were at various other political levels.
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In the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, Akhilesh has pitched five members of his family —Dimple Yadav from Mainpuri, nephew Tej Pratap Singh Yadav from Kannauj, Aditya Yadav from Badaun and cousins Dharmendra and Akshay from Azamgarh and Firozabad, respectively.
Origin Of Yadav Family
For decades, Mainpuri in Western Uttar Pradesh has been synonymous with the dominance of the Mulayam Singh Yadav family.
The late Mulayam Singh Yadav, who served as the UP Chief Minister for three terms and India’s 21st Defence Minister, was a towering figure in Indian politics, won the Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat five times.
The Yadav family came to the fore in 1967 with the election of Mulayam Singh Yadav to the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly. Since then, it has grown steadily and is now among the biggest and most powerful families in the country.
Prominent Family Members
Mulayam Singh Yadav: ‘Netaji’ won his first election to the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly in 1967. He had served as the state’s chief minister thrice – from 1989-1991, 1993-1995, and 2003-2007. He also held the post of Union Defence Minister from 1996-1998. Yadav had been elected to the UP legislative assembly 10 times and seven times as Lok Sabha MP.
Akhilesh Yadav: The former UP Chief Minister and the son of the SP patriarch, Akhilesh Yadav is the political heir to Mulayam. Akhilesh’s political career started in Kannauj when he won the seat for the first time in 2000. He then won the seat thrice in the Lok Sabha, while his wife Dimple Yadav won the seat in the 2012 bypoll when Akhilesh resigned after getting elected as Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister. Akhilesh won the Azamgarh seat in Eastern Uttar Pradesh in 2019, where his party has won four out of nine elections since 1996. However, this time, Akhilesh has named Dharmendra Yadav as SP’s candidate from Azamgarh.
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Dimple Yadav: Akhilesh Yadav‘s wife Dimple Yadav has been representing the Kannauj constituency in the Lok Sabha polls since 2012 and was re-elected in 2014 as well. This time, Dimple will contest the Mainpuri seat in UP for the Lok Sabha polls. The Yadav family has been on the Mainpuri seat since 2004.
Aparna Yadav: Aparna Yadav is married to Prateek Yadav, the son of Mulayam’s second wife Sadhana Gupta. Akhilesh Yadav is Mulayama’s son from his first marriage with Malati Devi. Aparna was fielded as the SP candidate from the Lucknow Cantonment assembly seat in the 2017 polls. However, there was a feud in the SP and she joined the BJP ahead of the 2022 UP Assembly polls.
Shivpal Yadav: Shivpal, Mulayam’s younger brother and considered his right hand since the early days, used to be the second-in-command in the party as well as the Mulayam Singh government. Shivpal is a six-time MLA from Jaswantnagar from SP. However, he distanced himself after Akhilesh took over the reins of the party. His son Aditya Yadav is also active in politics.
Other members: Mulayam’s three other brothers — Ratan Singh, Abhav Ram, and Rajpal Yadav — remained away from active politics. Ratan Singh’s grandson Tej Pratap Yadav won a Lok Sabha bypoll from Mainpuri and is the son-in-law of former Bihar Chief Minister and RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav.
Tej Pratap Yadav: Tej Pratap Singh Yadav has been named from Kannauj seat this time. Tej Pratap represented the Mainpuri Lok Sabha constituency in 2014, after Mulayam Singh Yadav won Azamgarh as well as Mainpuri Lok Sabha seats and decided to retain Azamgarh.
Yadav Family Through Elections
In the last Lok Sabha elections in 2019, as many as five members of the Yadav family, including Mulayam Singh Yadav, were in the fray. However, only Mulayam Singh Yadav and Akhilesh Yadav won the elections from SP bastions Mainpuri and Azamgarh, respectively.
The BJP snatched the Azamgarh seat from the SP in a bypoll held in 2022 after Akhilesh was elected to the UP Assembly as an MLA.
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In the 2014 elections, five members of the Yadav family entered the Lok Sabha — Mulayam Singh Yadav from Azamgarh, Dimple Yadav from Kannauj, Akshay from Firozabad, and Dharmendra from Badaun. Mulayam’s grandnephew Tej Pratap Singh Yadav won Mainpuri.
Lok Sabha Elections 2024
In the latest list of SP candidates for the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Akhilesh Yadav’s wife Dimple Yadav is contesting from the party’s bastion of Mainpuri. Dimple first won the seat in a bypoll a year ago after it was left vacant following the SP patriarch’s death.
SP has fielded Akhilesh’s cousins – Dharmendra Yadav from Azamgarh and Akshay Yadav from Firozabad.
Dharmendra was an MP from Badaun in 2009 and 2014 before he narrowly lost to the BJP in 2019. Akshay, son of SP veteran Ram Gopal Yadav, had won the Firozabad Lok Sabha seat in 2014 before losing to the BJP in a tight contest in 2019.
The party also announced Tej Pratap Singh Yadav as the candidate from the Kannauj Lok Sabha constituency in Uttar Pradesh and Aditya Yadav from Badaun.
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