Akhilesh Yadav, Azam Khan may relinquish their assembly seats, likely to continue as Lok Sabha MPs

Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India], March 12 (ANI): Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav and party leader Azam Khan - the newly-elected MLAs from Karhal and Rampur respectively - are likely to resign from Uttar Pradesh Assembly and continue as Member of Parliament, said sources.
Akhilesh Yadav is a Lok Sabha member from Azamgarh and Azam Khan from Rampur. At present, the SP only has five members in the Lower House.
In view of the political atmosphere, the SP does not want to weaken itself in the Lok Sabha, said sources.
Sources say that these political heavyweights can resign after some time.
The BJP stormed back to power with 255 seats in the 403-member Uttar Pradesh Assembly. The SP bagged 111 seats, a significant improvement from its 2017 tally when it secured only 47 seats.
Despite BJP's wave, Akhilesh Yadav won the Karhal seat by defeating Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) SP Singh Baghel with a margin of 67,504 votes. On the other hand, Azam Khan secured victory on the Rampur seat by a vote margin of 55,141, defeating BJP's Akash Saxena.
As per sources, Akhilesh Yadav's uncle and Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohiya) chief Shivpal Singh Yadav is likely to be given the responsibility of Leader of Opposition in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly after the sitting LoP Ram Govind, who was contesting on the Bansidh seat, lost by a vote margin of 21,352 to BJP's Ketakee Singh. (ANI)