Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday filed his nomination papers from Kannauj Lok Sabha constituency.

Yadav filed the nomination in the presence of party leaders, including Ram Gopal Yadav.

Talking to reporters Ram Gopal Yadav said that SP will win the seat with a huge margin. "The BJP candidate might lose his deposit in the seat," he said.

Akhilesh replaced his nephew Tej Pratap Yadav as the SP candidate from Kannauj. On Monday, the SP had declared his nephew Tej Pratap as its candidate from Kannauj but changed its decision on Wednesday.

Tej Pratap was party's MP from Mainpuri between 2014-19.

Akhilesh had won the Kannauj Lok Sabha seat first in 2000 and later represented it in 2004 and 2009.

He vacated the seat after he became the Uttar Pradesh chief minister in 2012, and his wife Dimple Yadav won the by-election unopposed.

Dimple also won in 2014 but lost the seat to BJP's Subrat Pathak in 2019.

Akhilesh, an MLA from the Karhal assembly seat in Mainpuri, is the Leader of Opposition in the Uttar Pradesh assembly.

Voting will be held in Kannauj on May 13 in the fourth phase of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.

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