15 nominations for graduate constituency elections

As many as 15 candidates have filed their nomination papers for Kanpur-Unnao and Kanpur dehat graduate constituency elections slated to be held on January 19. The candidates who have filed their nomination papers are: Vivek Dwivedi, Sunita Mishra, Gyanendra Shukla, Satyendra Kumar Gupta, Mayank, Manvendra Swarup, Awadhesh Pratap Singh, Sandhya Swarup, Abhishek Dixit, Mukesh Kumar Yadav, Arun Kumar Pathak, Vivek Katiyar, Satyendra Singh Yadav, Surendra Singh and Awadhesh Singh. Except Arun Kumar Pathak, all candidates filed their nomination papers as independent contestants. Arun Kumar Pathak, who is BJP candidate, had filed his nomination on January 1. The byelection is being held for Kanpur Unnao--Kanpur dehat graduate constituency elections as the seat fell vacant following death of Jagendra Swarup. The process for filing nominations began on December 26, 2014. Scrutiny of nomination papers would take place on January 3 while the last date of withdrawal is January 5. Though most of the candidates have filed their nominations as independents but presence of political persons in their processions had given indication as to which political party was backing them. For instance, several Congress leaders such as local Congress MLA Ajay Kapoor and president of Kanpur District Congress Committee Har Prakash Agnihotri were present in the procession when Manvendra Swarup had filed his nomination papers. Manvendra is the son of late Jagendra Swarup, who was occupying this seat since the last three terms. An interesting turn came in the nomination when Sandhya Swarup, mother of Manvendra Swarup, also filed her nomination papers for her husband Jagendra Swarup's seat.