Lucknow, Apr 12 (IANS): Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav will on Friday start campaigning for the SP candidates from the Pilibhit Lok Sabha constituency in Uttar Pradesh.

Pilibhit is going to the polls in the first phase on April 19 and Akhilesh is launching the campaign from this seat that the SP has never won.

After Pilibhit, Akhilesh is scheduled to address rallies in Nagina and Bijnor.

The ruling BJP has denied ticket to the sitting BJP MP Varun Gandhi from Pilibhit and has replaced him with UP Minister Jitin Prasada.

Bhagwat Saran Gangwar is the SP candidate for the seat while the BSP has named Anees Ahmad Phool Babu as its candidate.

As per the seat-sharing pact, the SP is contesting 62 seats in Uttar Pradesh, the Congress is contesting 17 seats and the Trinamool Congress has been given one seat.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed a rally in Pilibhit wherein he targeted the Samajwadi Party and the Congress.

Besides Pilibhit, seven other constituencies namely Saharanpur, Kairana, Muzaffarnagar, Bijnor, Nagina, Moradabad and Rampur will go to the polls on April 19.

Meanwhile, the SP and the Congress are still drawing up a detailed plan for joint rallies by the two parties in which the supporters and local outfits of both parties will be seen together.

The coordination committee of both parties is giving final shape to the proposed joint campaign.