'Kidnapped' man challenges Dimple Yadav's election to Lok Sabha

The election of Dimple Yadav, wife of Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, to the Lok Sabha from Kannauj has been challenged in the Allahabad High Court by a man who says he was kidnapped to prevent him from contesting.

Hearing a petition filed by lawyer Prabhat Kumar Pandey, Justice D.P. Singh Tuesday issued notice to Yadav and the Kannauj district magistrate seeking a response within six weeks.

The petitioner alleged that he wanted to contest against Dimple Yadav in the Kannauj by-polls, but workers and activists of the Samajwadi Party (SP) kidnapped him at the behest of Dimple Yadav. As a result, he could not file his nomination, the lawyer claimed.

Pandey further told the court in his petition that he brought the matter to the notice of the district magistrate, but the official refused to come to his aid.

Demanding that the election of Dimple Yadav be cancelled and fresh elections for the Kannauj Lok Sabha seat be held, the petitioner has also sought action against the district magistrate for neglecting her duties.

Seeking a response from the Kannauj Member of Parliament and the district magistrate within six weeks, the HC fixed November 5 as the next date of hearing.

The 35-year-old Dimple Yadav was elected to the Lok Sabha unopposed June 9 after two contestants in Kannauj - Dashrath Singh Shankwar of the Sanyukt Samajwadi Dal and Sanju Katiyar, an independent - withdrew from the race, leaving Dimple Yadav the lone candidate in the fray.

While the BSP and the Congress refused to field a candidate, the BJP made a last-minute decision to contest, but its nominee failed to file the papers within the deadline.

Dimple Yadav was earlier been fielded by the Samajwadi Party from Firozabad in the 2009 Lok Sabha election. She then lost to Raj Babbar of Congress, the Bollywood actor who was formerly in the Samajwadi Party.