Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav to contest from two places in UP -- Azamgarh and Mainpuri.  The issue was discussed at a recent meeting of senior leaders in Lucknow. That Azamgarh was an important district for SP can be gauged from the fact that the party had launched its campaign for the 2012 assembly elections from here.

Speculations were rife regarding Mulayam's candidature from the Azamgarh Lok Sabha constituency, but senior party leader Shivpal Yadav had earlier denied it saying that there was no such proposal.

In the 2009 elections, Mulayam won the Mainpuri seat by a margin of over 1.6 lakh votes. BJP's Ramakant Yadav won the Azamgarh constituency by nearly 50,000 votes. SP candidate Durga Prasad Yadav came third in the constituency behind BSP's Akbar Ahmad Dampi.