Hyderabad/Lucknow: While the schedule of the upcoming assembly elections has been released, the BJP is set to release the first list of candidates on Saturday. Considering that the elections in Uttar Pradesh shall be pretty crucial for BJP's further political journey, the party has taken full care of social engineering while choosing the candidates as well as releasing the list. This is probably the reason why the party did not make the list public immediately after the Central Election Committee meeting.
In the first meeting of the Bharatiya Janata Party's Central Election Committee, the seats for the first two phases of elections have been discussed and now the first list is just short of being released. The party has also interestingly reconciled the caste equation by keeping full attention on social engineering. If sources are to be believed, even in the first list, the tickets for the MLAs against whom there is displeasure among the people are likely to be declined. In fact, a survey conducted at the local level showed adverse results against them. In fact, a large number of MLAs and ministers are even leaving the party, putting especially the BJP UP cabinet at disadvantage.
So far, about 14 leaders have resigned from the Bharatiya Janata Party, including three cabinet ministers, while most of the leaders are also joining the opposition Samajwadi Party. This is the reason that in the first list that will come, the caste equation has been completely kept in mind so that if the leaders rebel even after the list comes out, the equation could come in handy.
According to the sources, the party was going to bring around 172 people to the first list, but now there are speculations that the party can refrain from announcing some of these seats and release the names of only 150 candidates in the first round. 22 OBC candidates, 8 SC candidates, 21 forward class candidates, 11 candidates from the Jat community, 5 from Gurjar, 7 Brahmins, and 9 Rajput candidates have been given tickets in the first list. The caste and class dynamics will therefore play an important role in the upcoming elections.
While most of the leaders who are leaving the BJP are OBCs and have even mentioned discrimination against their class in their resignations, 22 OBC candidates have been given a place in the first list and at the same time, social contact campaign has also been started to influence this community. Some of the names that are coming out include Shrikant Sharma from Mathura, Noida Pankaj Singh from Ghaziabad, Dr. Manju Shivaz from Modinagar, Ajit Pal Tyagi from Muradnagar, while Nandkishore Gurjar from Loni has been re-nominated by the party. Apart from this, it is almost decided that Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will contest from Ayodhya, Keshav Maurya from Sirathu seat of Kaushambi, and Dinesh Sharma from Lucknow.
While from Garhmukteshwar, BJP has fielded Harendra Chaudhary by replacing MLA Kamal Singh Malik, whereas, from Khairagarh assembly of Agra, the party has nominated Bhagwan Singh Kushwaha instead of Mahesh Goyal, besides former cricketer Chetan Chauhan's wife. Those who are MLAs from Naugaona Sadat are also not being given tickets this time, say sources.
