Samajwadi Party ousts its 11 district chiefs

The Samajwadi Party on Saturday sacked the presidents of its 11 district units with immediate effect, the party said here on Saturday. In a statement, SP’s state unit president Naresh Uttam said presidents of Gorakhpur, Moradabad, Jhansi, Agra, Gautam Budh Nagar, Mau, Balrampur, Shravasti, Bhadohi, Gonda and Lalitpur districts have been removed with immediate effect.

The action has been taken on the directives of the party president Akhilesh Yadav, he added. Though no reason was cited in the statement release for the party’s action against its district unit chiefs, reports reaching here from some districts said the party's nominees in many districts did not turn up for filing their nomination papers for the post of zila panchayat chairman.

In Bhadohi, the party's nominee, Shyam Kumari Maurya, whose candidature was announced about a month ago, did not turn up for filing her nomination. In Gorakhpur, SP candidate Jitendra Yadav was also not able to file his papers. On Saturday, nominations were filed in all districts of the state for the post of zila panchayat chairman and the polling will take place on July 3.