What's noteworthy here is Samajwadi party's slogan during this election.. which says “khela hoi.. khadeda hoi..” which is nothing but a sequel of Mamata Banerjee's Khela Hobe in Bengal election.
We have seen recently to defend her fort from her previous No. 2 politician, she had to fight election from opponent's turf Nandigram where ultimately Mamata lost.Akhilesh must've learnt from Mamata, that revealing card before election and particularly on wrong time can encourage be disastrous against BJP who uses “saam, daam, Dand, bhed” to fight elections.
Akhilesh if even about to fight election, will still not reveal his seat much before elections. Since BJP will try their best to defeat him on his seat, so better give them less time to react or perhaps no time to react for the simplest. He's a sitting MP thus enjoys a particular immunity to central agencies, who goes into vulture mode before elections for Vendetta.
He produce other options to be CM, he can fight election during a by-election by asking one in every of his winning MLA to resign & fight from that safe seat. which is able to be easier to win post main elections. Or He can get appointed via Vidhan Parishad. Even Yogi opted this same route to become CM.
So, i believe Akhilesh wouldn't fight vidhan sabha elections and can opt the Vidhan Parishad route after elections to become CM.