<div>Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav on Monday filed his nomination papers from Karhal assembly seat in the family bastion of Mainpuri.</div>.<div>He would be challenged by BJP nominee and Union minister of state for law and justice S P Singh Baghel, who also filed his nomination papers on Monday.</div>.<div>Akhilesh, who was accompanied by the party general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav and the sitting SP MLA from the seat Sobaran Singh Yadav, later expressed confidence that his party would form the next government in the state in alliance with the RLD, SBSP and others after the polls.</div>.<div><strong>Also Read | <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/election/uttar-pradesh/akhilesh-yadav-only-daydreaming-cant-win-polls-up-dy-cm-1076248.html" target="_blank">Akhilesh Yadav only daydreaming, can't win polls: UP Dy CM</a></strong></div>.<div>''It is not merely a nomination.....it is a mission...this election will script a new chapter in the history of the state and the country...negative politics must be defeated,'' the SP president said in a Tweet.</div>.<div>Karhal, which was barely a few kilometres away from Akhilesh's native village of Saifai, has been an SP stronghold and the party had won the seat in the past three assembly polls in 2007, 2012 and 2017. BJP had won the seat in 2002. The constituency has a sizable presence of Yadav voters, a traditional vote bank of the SP.</div>.<div>It would be Akhilesh's first plunge in the state's electoral battlefield. Akhilesh had taken the legislative council route and had resigned from the Kannauj LS seat when he became the chief minister of the state after 2012 assembly polls. His wife Dimple Yadav was later elected unopposed from Kannauj seat. </div>.<div>Baghel, Akhilesh's challenger from the BJP, was a former UP cop and had served in the security detail of SP patron Mulayam Singh Yadav.</div>.<p><em><strong>Check out the latest DH videos here:<br /><br /></strong></em></p>
<div>Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav on Monday filed his nomination papers from Karhal assembly seat in the family bastion of Mainpuri.</div>.<div>He would be challenged by BJP nominee and Union minister of state for law and justice S P Singh Baghel, who also filed his nomination papers on Monday.</div>.<div>Akhilesh, who was accompanied by the party general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav and the sitting SP MLA from the seat Sobaran Singh Yadav, later expressed confidence that his party would form the next government in the state in alliance with the RLD, SBSP and others after the polls.</div>.<div><strong>Also Read | <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/election/uttar-pradesh/akhilesh-yadav-only-daydreaming-cant-win-polls-up-dy-cm-1076248.html" target="_blank">Akhilesh Yadav only daydreaming, can't win polls: UP Dy CM</a></strong></div>.<div>''It is not merely a nomination.....it is a mission...this election will script a new chapter in the history of the state and the country...negative politics must be defeated,'' the SP president said in a Tweet.</div>.<div>Karhal, which was barely a few kilometres away from Akhilesh's native village of Saifai, has been an SP stronghold and the party had won the seat in the past three assembly polls in 2007, 2012 and 2017. BJP had won the seat in 2002. The constituency has a sizable presence of Yadav voters, a traditional vote bank of the SP.</div>.<div>It would be Akhilesh's first plunge in the state's electoral battlefield. Akhilesh had taken the legislative council route and had resigned from the Kannauj LS seat when he became the chief minister of the state after 2012 assembly polls. His wife Dimple Yadav was later elected unopposed from Kannauj seat. </div>.<div>Baghel, Akhilesh's challenger from the BJP, was a former UP cop and had served in the security detail of SP patron Mulayam Singh Yadav.</div>.<p><em><strong>Check out the latest DH videos here:<br /><br /></strong></em></p>
