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BSP fields Muslim candidate against Rajnath, OBC to challenge Dimple
The BSP declared these names as it released its third list of 12 candidates for Lok Sabha election on Wednesday. With this, the BSP has named 36 Lok Sabha candidates in Uttar Pradesh so far.
The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has fielded a Muslim candidate Mohammad Sarwar Malik against defence minister and senior BJP leader Rajnath Singh for the Lucknow Lok Sabha seat and a non-Yadav OBC Gulshan Dev Shakya against Samajwadi Party candidate Dimple Yadav in Mainpuri, besides another Muslim Imran Bin Zafar in Kannauj, where a member of the SP’s Yadav family is likely to contest.
The BSP declared these names as it released its third list of 12 candidates for Lok Sabha election on Wednesday. With this, the BSP has named 36 Lok Sabha candidates in Uttar Pradesh so far. The state has 80 Lok Sabha seats.
In Mainpuri, the BSP’s ploy of fielding Shakya appears to be aimed at denting the Samajwadi Party’s OBC support base. The BJP is yet to declare its candidate for Mainpuri, considered a Samajwadi Party bastion, which is going to polls in the third phase on May 7.
In Kannuj, the BJP has already fielded sitting MP Subrat Pathak who had defeated Dimple Yadav in 2019.
After boxer Vijender Singh joined the BJP, the BSP replaced its Mathura candidate Kamal Kant Upmanyu, a Brahmin, with Vishwa Hindu Parishad former regional president Suresh Singh, who belongs to the OBC Jat community, in a bid to make a dent in the BJP’s Jat support base. The Congress was planning to field Vijendra Singh, a Jat, from Mathura.
In another tactical move, the BSP fielded Nandkishor Pundhir, a Rajput, for the Ghaziabad seat after the BJP replaced two-term MP and Union minister General VK Singh (Retd) with Atul Garg, the party MLA from Ghaziabad seat. The Congress has fielded Dolly Sharma, who had contested the 2019 Lok Sabha election unsuccessfully against Singh.
Working on the Dalit- Upper Caste formula, the BSP also plans to cash in on the anger among Rajputs in the rural areas over denial of the BJP ticket to VK Singh.
The BSP has fielded Hitendra Kumar aka Bunty Upadhyay, a former BJP leader, for the Aligarh Lok Sabha seat, where the BJP has named its sitting MP Satish Gautam and the SP has fielded Bijendra Singh.
The BSP has fielded Brahmin candidates Ashok Kumar Pandey and Manish Tripathi from Unnao and Mirzapur, respectively. Tripathi is pitted against two-term MP, Union minister and Apna Dal (Sonelal) chief Anupriya Patel. The SP has fielded Rajendra S Bind in Mirzpur.
The BSP named Anshay Kalra Rocky, a Sikh candidate, from Lakhimpur Kheri.
Shubh Narayan, a retired deputy superintendent of police, who was president of the Allahabad University Students Union from 1978-79, will contest the Kaushambi reserved seat as a BSP candidate.
The BJP is yet to name its candidate from Kaushambi, where the party’s Vinod Kumar Sonkar had won in 2019.
For the Lalganj reserved seat, the BSP has given the party ticket to Indu Chaudhary, a faculty at the English department of Banaras Hindu University.
The BSP had won the seat in 2019, but party MP Sangeeta Azad defected to the BJP last month.
The BSP has named Rajesh Kumar alias Manoj Pradhan for the Mohanlalganj reserved seat where Union minister Kaushal Kishore is seeking a third successive win on the BJP ticket. The SP has fielded RK Chaudhary.
