Samajwadi Party leader Anil Yadav, who was also the manager of a college, was shot dead by unidentified assailants in Uttar Pradesh's Ghazipur district, police said on Friday.
Yadav, 34, was shot dead late on Thursday while he was returning home after meeting some of his friends on the outskirts of the district.
"Though we are yet to ascertain the motive behind the crime, it appears the incident could be the fallout of political rivalry," police inspector Ranjeet Rai told reporters in Ghazipur, some 250 km from Lucknow.
"Teams have been constituted to nab the assailants at the earliest," he added.
According to police, two-three motorcycle-borne assailants shot dead Yadav, the manager of the Sudershan Inter College in Ghazipur, in the Nandganj area.
On the complaint made by Yadav's family, police have registered a case against four people, who could be involved in getting Yadav killed.