UP Election 2022: BJP fields Mulayam's former PSO turned Union Minister to take on Akhilesh in Karhal

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Monday filed his nomination for the upcoming UP election from the Karhal seat in Mainpuri. This is the first time that Akhilesh Yadav is contesting an Assembly election. He has won 3 Lok Sabha elections.

While Akhilesh Yadav has chosen family stronghold of Mainpuri for his maiden Assembly poll outing, his opponent from the BJP camp makes for an interesting challenger.

The BJP has upped the game by fielding Union Minister SP Singh Baghel to take on Akhilesh Yadav from Karhal.

The former Sub Inspector in the Uttar Pradesh Police, SP Singh Baghel has now become a big name in the political world.

As a cop, Baghel was once a personal security officer of former UP CM and Akhilesh's father, Mulayam Singh Yadav. It was this stint in the Mulayam security team in the early 1990s that kickstarted Baghel's political career as he became close to the then SP chief.

Baghel went on to become the Samajwadi Lok Sabha MP from Jalesar in 1998, 1999 and 2004. In 2014, Baghel went to Rajya Sabha from Bahujan Samaj Party. In 2017, he won the Assembly elections from Tundla on a BJP ticket and was made a cabinet minister in the State government. Later, in 2019, BJP gave him a ticket from Agra and he won.

He is currently the Minister of State for Law and Justice.

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