UP polls 2022: BJP fields CM Yogi Adityanath from Gorakhpur
Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya will also contest the elections, and will be the ruling party's candidate from Sirathu constituency in Prayagraj.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) confirmed on Saturday that chief minister Yogi Adityanath will contest the upcoming assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, as it announced its list of candidates for the first two phases of polling, scheduled to be held on February 10 and 14 respectively.
However, contrary to expectations, Adityanath will contest from a constituency on his home turf of Gorakhpur--Gorakhpur City--and not from the temple town of Ayodhya, or Mathura. This is for the first time he will contest assembly polls; however, he was a Lok Sabha MP from Gorakhpur for five consecutive terms from 1998 to 2017.
In March 2017, Adityanath resigned as Member of Parliament after being selected by the BJP as its chief minister for the country's most populous state, following the party's win, by unprecedented margin, in that year's Uttar Pradesh polls. He is currently a Member of UP's Legislative Council (MLC).
Meanwhile, deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, too, will contest the elections, and will be the ruling party's candidate from the Sirathu segment in Prayagraj.
However, it is to be noted that Gorakhpur City and Sirathu will not vote in the first two rounds. A total of 113 seats (58+55) will vote in the first two phases, for which 105 (57+48) candidates were announced. Overall, the first list contains 107 names, the extra two being the chief minister and his deputy.
Assembly elections for all 403 seats in Uttar Pradesh will take place in seven phases, with polling for rounds 3-7 to be held on February 20, 23, 27, March 3 and 7. The counting of votes will take place on March 10.
