Lucknow, Nov 11 (IANS): Former SP MP Tej Pratap Yadav has said that Dimple Yadav, the wife of SP president Akhilesh Yadav, would win the Mainpuri seat with a record margin.

"This is the first election after Netaji's (Mulayam Singh Yadav) demise. This was his seat. The party wants to pay tribute to him with a huge win. All the leaders and members are working hard towards this goal. We are all together," he said.

Discounting rumours of a rift in the family over Dimple Yadav's candidature, Tej Pratap told reporters that the entire family would work together to ensure that the seat remains with SP.

Dimple Yadav made her political debut in 2009 when she unsuccessfully contested the Firozabad by-election and lost to Raj Babbar of Congress.

She later won her first election in 2012 when she got elected unopposed from Kannauj which was vacated by Akhilesh after he took over as Chief Minister.

Dimple retained her seat in 2014 but lost to the BJP's Subrat Pathak in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

Mulayam Singh Yadav, meanwhile, had won every Lok Sabha election he contested in Mainpuri since 1996.

He won the seat five times out of his seven tenures as an MP.

He retained it in 2014 and 2019, when a saffron wave made most of the party candidates lose.

Tej Pratap has already represented the seat in the past when he won the 2014 Lok Sabha by poll after Mulayam won from both Azamgarh and Mainpuri and chose to retain the former.

The by-polls will be held on December 5 and the counting of votes on December 8.