BJP Announces First Candidates’ List For Uttar Pradesh Polls

Lucknow: The Bhartiya Janata Party on Saturday released its first list of 107 candidates for next month’s Assembly election in Uttar Pradesh.

“We are releasing list of candidates on 57/58 seats in first phase, 38/55 in second phase and the rest 12 seats in third phase,” BJP’s election in-charge for UP, Dharmendra Pradhan said.

Chief minister Yogi Adityanath will contest from his stronghold Gorakhpur (Urban) seat, which has voted him to the Lok Sabha for five straight terms. Polling for this seat will be held on March 3 in the sixth and penultimate phase.

There was speculation earlier that Yogi, who had never contested an Assembly election before would pick one of two temple towns – Ayodhya or Mathura.

Dismissing reports that Yogi was adamant about contesting from Gorakhpur, BJP’s election in-charge for UP, Dharmendra told the media that the final decision was taken by the top leadership of the party after much deliberation.

Yogi’s deputy, Keshav Prasad Maurya, will contest from Sirathu seat in Prayagraj district.

More than 60% of the 107 names announced in the first list for UP’s 403-member Assembly are OBC and SC and 10 are women. Among them, 63 are sitting MLAs and 21 new faces.

Uttar Pradesh will go to the polls in seven phases, beginning on February 10. The results will be counted on March 10.