Uttar Pradesh district sends 7 MPs to the 18th Lok Sabha; All you need to know

The 2024 general elections have seen Etawah district send at least seven MPs to the 18th Lok Sabha. Including two Rajya Sabha members, Etawah emerges as a unique district in the country with nine natives representing it in Parliament.

Lok Sabha MPs
Of the 37 Parliamentarians from the Samajwadi Party (SP), five belong to the prominent Yadav family from Etawah.
This includes:

• Akhilesh Yadav (Kannauj)
• Dimple Yadav (Mainpuri)
• Dharmendra Yadav (Azamgarh)
• Akshay Yadav (Firozabad)
• Aditya Yadav (Badaun)

In an impressive statistic, around 2015-16, the Yadav family boasted 20 active political members, including positions in the Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha, state assembly, and legislative council. Akhilesh Yadav, the then-chief minister, is now the national president of SP.


Jitendra Dohre and Devesh Shakya
The current Lok Sabha lineup includes SP’s Etawah MP Jitendra Dohre, who won his seat by a margin of over 58,000 votes. Dohre initially belonged to the BSP but switched to the SP in 2020. In 2018, his wife was elected as Maheva Block Pramukh on an SP ticket.

Etah MP Devesh Shakya, also from SP and a resident of Shanti Colony in Etawah, began his political career with the BSP in 2002. He later joined the BJP in 2017. Ahead of the 2022 assembly polls, Devesh switched to SP and won his seat in Etah by approximately 30,000 votes.

Rajya Sabha MPs
Etawah is also represented in the Rajya Sabha by:

• Prof Ram Gopal Yadav (SP’s Secretary General)
• Geeta Shakya (BJP), a native of Sinhua village in Bharthana area of Etawah.

Etawah historical significance
Interestingly, Etawah is not solely dominated by the Yadav clan. In 1991, the district saw the alliance of SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav and BSP founder Kanshi Ram. With Mulayam’s support, Kanshi Ram contested and won the 1991 Lok Sabha polls by around 1 lakh votes. The district also played a significant role in the 1857 revolt and was once overseen by AO Hume, the founder of the Indian National Congress, who served as its district collector.

Inputs from TOI