Ex-DGHS Jagdish Prasad is SP nominee from Salon seat

New Delhi: In a surprise announcement, Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav has fielded noted heart surgeon Jagdish Prasad from Salon assembly constituency to win the prestigious seat for the party.

Prasad, who is a former Director General of Health Service, originally hails from Hilsa in Nalanda district of Bihar. However, Prasad has claimed that his ancestors were the residents of Rohaniya Block in Rae Bareli district. It is also said that Prasad was the blue-eyed boy of noted Dalit leader late Ram Vilas Paswan.

The Salon assembly seat is under Rae Bareli district of Uttar Pradesh, while it comes under the prestigious Amethi parliamentary constituency, which is represented by Union Minister Smriti Irani. BJP's Dal Bahadur Kori had won the Salon seat in 2017 by defeating Congress candidate Suresh Choudhary with a margin of 16,055 votes.

Since Dal Bahadur is no more as he had died while fighting the Covid-19 battle, the BJP may field a strong candidate to retain the Salon seat by fielding a candidate from the Kori community.

The SP has won Salon seat in the years 2002, 2012 and finished at second position in the years 1993 and 2007. The Congress has won this seat five times, while BJP candidate has won this seat three times since the 1977 assembly elections. The voting for the Salon assembly seat will be held on February 27.