Two-timing/UPSamajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav has become the third leader to contest from two Lok Sabha constituencies of the state simultaneously. The BJP's prime ministerial candidate, Atal Behari Vajpayee, and Congress's Narain Dutt Tiwari are the other two with the dubious distinction.Mulayam is contesting from Sambhal and Kannauj seats. Last time, he had won from Sambhal by more than 1.5 lakh votes, while in 1996, Mainpuri seat had sent him to the Lok Sabha.Vajpayee has contested twice from two seats of the state. In 1957, he had stood from Lucknow and Balrampur on the Jana Sangh ticket. While he had been defeated in Lucknow, he had won in Balrampur with 52.2 per cent of the votes. In the elections that followed, Vajpayee had again contested from the above two seats on the Jana Sangh ticket, but had lost both. In 1996, Tiwari, then the Congress(T) president, had contested from Nainital and Jhansi. While in Nainital, he had defeated the BJP's Balraj Passi by more than 1.5 lakhvotes, in Jhansi, he had lost badly.While Mulayam may be contesting from two Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh for the first time, he has done it more than once during the Assembly elections. In 1993, in fact, he had contested from three seats - Jaswantnagar, Sidhauli Kalan and Sikohabad - and won all.-R.B. SINGH
