Lucknow: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has announced its candidate for the by-election to the Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh. The BJP has given a ticket to Raghuraj Shakya from Mainpuri parliamentary seat. BJP's Raghuraj Shakya, who is pitted against Samajwadi Party (SP) candidate Dimple Yadav from Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat, is counted as a very special person of Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (PSP) national president Shivpal Yadav.

In February this year, Raghuraj Shakya resigned from the PSP and joined the BJP. Raghuraj has been an MP twice. Before joining the BJP, Raghuraj Shakya was the state vice president of the PSP. Raghuraj Shakya was elected MP from Etawah on an SP ticket in 1999 and 2004. He had also won the Assembly elections from the Etawah Sadar seat on an SP ticket in 2012. Raghuraj Shakya resigned from the SP on January 27, 2017.

After this, Raghuraj Shakya went to Shivpal Singh Yadav-led PSP. In the 2022 assembly elections, Raghuraj Shakya had staked claim from the Etawah Sadar seat, but the SP gave a ticket to Sarvesh Shakya from here. For this reason, Raghuraj Shakya left the PSP and joined the BJP. Now the BJP has fielded Raghuraj from the Mainpuri seat, considered to be the SP's impregnable fort.

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