Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav and the party’s MP Azam Khan on Tuesday resigned from the Lok Sabha in a clear attempt to strengthen the party set up in Uttar Pradesh ahead of 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

The SP president handed over his resignation to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla in the national capital.

In a tweet, Samajwadi Party said the party’s national president Akhilesh Yadav has resigned from the membership of Lok Sabha adding that the resignation letter was handed over to the Lok Sabha Speaker.

Along with the tweet, the party also shared a video of the SP president handing over the resignation to Om Birla.

Yadav and Azam Khan resigned after winning the recently held Uttar Pradesh elections from the Karhal and Rampur Assembly seats respectively.

Both the leaders have apparently decided to retain their Assembly seats in a bid to give a boost to the party in Uttar Pradesh.

The Samajwadi Party had won five Lok Sabha seats in the 2019 general elections. The party’s strength will be reduced to three after the resignations are accepted by the Speaker.

According to Samajwadi Party sources, Akhilesh Yadav will lead the party in the state and play the role of opposition leader in the UP Assembly.

Azam Khan has been slapped with a number of cases by the UP government on charges of land grab among others. He is in jail currently.

The decision of the SP leaders also appears to be influenced by the decimation of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), which won just one Assembly seat in the 2022 state polls.

Former CM Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party came a distant second in the 2022 Uttar Pradesh elections, securing 111 constituencies, seeing a massive increase from 47 in 2017, and getting 32.06 per cent votes.

The decision of Akhilesh Yadav to retain his assembly seat is also a major morale booster for his party workers.

Meanwhile, the nomination of two SP candidates, Udaiveer Singh and Rakesh Yadav, from the Etah council seat has been cancelled by the returning officer and two BJP candidates have been declared elected unopposed.

(With inputs from Agencies)