Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Akhilesh Yadav resigns from Lok Sabha today, PTI reported. His resignation from the Azamgarh parliamentary constituency has been handed to Om Birla, the Speaker of the House.

In the recent Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, Yadav won the Karhal seat beating Dr SP Singh Baghel of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) by a margin of 67,504 votes, to become the MLA. 

The SP leader is slated to join the Legislative Assembly after his maiden assembly election win.

Also Read | Swearing in ceremony of Yogi Adityanath as CM of Uttar Pradesh on March 25

However, SP lost the election to the BJP in UP, where the party made a record since the state has not returned an incumbent government to power since 1985. Despite losing, SP saw an increased seat share, claiming 111 wins. Meanwhile, the BJP celebrated their victory with chants of “Yogi-Modi Jai Shriram, Jai Shriram”, as it was cemented that Gorakhpur contestant Yogi Adityanath would return as the chief minister of the state.

Yadav’s stand from Karhal saw him contest the elections from a seat that has been an SP stronghold since 1993. Except for 2002, when the constituency voted for BJP, SP has been a clear choice. 

The Karhal seat falls under Mainpuri Lok Sabha, which is recognized as Mulayam Singh Yadav’s turf. The previous MLA of the seat was Sobaran Singh Yadav, who’d initially won with a BJP ticket, but since then switched to SP. 

Also Read | In UP drubbing, Akhilesh Yadav sees a silver lining

Born into political royalty, as the son of SP founder Mulayam Singh Yadav, Akhilesh initially was elected as a member of the parliament from the Kannauj constituency at the age of 26. He went on to become the state’s youngest chief minister at the age of 38 when SP had a resounding win in the 2012 assembly elections. 

At that time too, Yadav had resigned from his position of a Parliamentarian, to join the state’s legislative council.