BJP first list of candidates for UP polls out; Yogi to contest from Gorakhpur, not Ayodhya

BJP on Saturday announced candidates for the first and second phase of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will contest from Gorakhpur and not Ayodhya. Among a total of 107 candidates, 44 are from OBC, 19 SC community and 43 seats have been allotted to General category candidates.

New Delhi: BJP on Saturday announced candidates for the first and second phase of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections. Speaking to reporters BJP leader Dharmendra Pradhan said that Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will contest from Gorakhpur and not Ayodhya. Out of the 58 seats which will go to the polls in the first phase, BJP announced candidates for 57 seats. Candidates were also announced for the 55 seats which will go to the polls in the second phase.

Apart from the Chief Minister, Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya will be contesting from the Sirathu seat in Prayagraj.

The list was released by the BJP's Uttar Pradesh in-charge and Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan along with the party general secretary Arun Singh during a press conference at the party's headquarters. Pradhan said Adityanath will be the BJP's candidate from Gorakhpur City and Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya from Sirathu. Adityanath was a five-term Lok Sabha member from Gorakhpur. He and Maurya are currently members of the state's Legislative Council.

The list includes 44 OBC (Other Backward Caste) and 19 SC (Schedule Caste) names among a total of 107 candidates, accounting for 60% of the total count. In the remaining 43 General category seats, on the other hand, 18 are Thakurs, 10 Brahmins and eight members of the Vaishya community.

Former Uttarakhand Governor Baby Rani Maurya, the current BJP Vice-President and a member of the Dalit community, will contest from Agra (rural).

Significantly, among the 19 SC candidates, 13 are Jatavs, who make up for more than half of the Dalit population in the state and have been a traditional voter base for Mayawati's Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP).

With the Jat-concentrated region going to the polls in the first two phases, the agrarian community, which was at the forefront of the agitation in western Uttar Pradesh against three contentious farm laws, has got 16 seats, as per sources.

"The BJP has provided welfare and sensitive governance in Uttar Pradesh in the last five years. We are confident that the people of UP will again bless us in this great festival of 2022 with the same clarity," the BJP tweeted quoting Pradhan.

Elections for the 403-member Uttar Pradesh assembly is scheduled to be held in seven phases starting from February 10. Shrikant Sharma has been fielded from Mathura while Mriganka Singh has been fielded from Mathura. Out of 83 sitting MLAs, 63 were given tickets while the rest are new faces.

(with Agency inputs)