BJP fields Raghuraj Singh Shakya against SP's Dimple Yadav in Mainpuri bypoll

New Delhi: The BJP on Tuesday named Raghuraj Singh Shakya, a former MP, as its candidate for the Lok Sabha bypoll to Mainpuri against Samajwadi Party's Dimple Yadav.

Shakya was once a close associate of Shivpal Yadav but quit his Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party to join the BJP earlier this year.



He was earlier in the Samajwadi Party (SP) and sided with Shivpal Yadav after he formed his own party.

The bypoll has been necessitated due to the death of SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav, and Mainpuri has long been a pocket borough of his family.