Madhu Gupta files nomination

LUCKNOW: Samajwadi Party mayoral candidate Dr Madhu Gupta filed her nomination papers for the Lucknow Nagar Nigam election on Thursday.
Her name was proposed by Rajya Sabha members Bhagwati Singh, Virendra Bhatia and Banwari Lal Kanchal in addition to former MLA Ravidas Mehrotra and general secretary of party's city unit Vijay Singh.
Shortly after filing her nomination, Dr Madhu Gupta said her priority would be to make the nagar nigam financially self-dependent and to serve the poor and the downtrodden.She stressed that she had no major contender in the fray and attributed her earlier defeat on the same post to the faulty counting of votes.
Earlier in the, day the SP office wore a festive look. Workers began assembling at 10.30 am for the nomination procession. Amidst much slogan shouting like 'Lucknow ka mayor kaisa ho, Madhu Gupta jaisa ho' and 'Vyaparion ki hai lalkar, Madhu Gupta ki banegi nagar nigam mein sarkar' and the bursting of crackers, the procession wound its way from the SP office to Hazratganj, Lalbagh and finally the nagar nigam.
The activists were stopped outside the barricading and only a few were allowed into the room where nominations were being filed. They included the five, who had proposed her name in addition to the city unit office-bearers and others.
Shailendra's show: Former Lucknow University Students Union president Shailendra Kumar Singh 'Shailu' stole the show on Thursday by putting up a grand show for nomination of his candidature for the post of mayor. Over two thousand jubilant supporters, packed in vehicles escorted the student leader for filing his nomination.
While the leader was onboard a truck, supporters followed on MUVs, cars and bikes — a kilometre long procession.
'Gandhigiri' was also visible as two young men, dressed as Mahatma Gandhi were marching ahead of the procession. A few others were also seen dressed in traditional outfits portraying Hindu, Muslim, Sikh and Christian as a mark of national integration. An elephant and a few horses were also part of the procession.