NEW DELHI, April 27 -- The Bharatiya Janata Party has fielded Durvijay Singh Shakya as its candidate from the Badaun Lok Sabha seat, replacing the incumbent MP Sanghmitra Maurya. Shakya has his roots in the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), and by fielding a local candidate, the BJP has suppressed the outsider candidate tag from itself. Shakya will lock horns against Shivpal Yadav's son, Aditya Yadav, who has been announced as the Samajwadi Party's candidate, replacing his veteran father this election.

Badaun has been a stronghold of the SP. From 1996 to 2014, SP held this seat except in 2019 when the BJP broke this dominance. BJP's Sanghmitra Maurya defeated SP candidate Dharmendra Yadav by a small margin of approximately 18,00...