UP polls: BSP fields its state president Bhim Rajbhar from Mukhtar Ansari’s Mau

Uttar Pradesh assembly election 2022: The BSP has named 47 candidates on its list for the seventh phase of the UP polls. The list has 17 OBCs, 14 upper castes, 11 Dalits and five Muslims

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati has fielded her party’s Uttar Pradesh president Bhim Rajbhar from the Mau assembly constituency represented by gangster-turned politician Mukhtar Ansari in the state assembly.

Uttar Pradesh BSP president Bhim Rajbhar will enter the fray in Mau. (HT FILE PHOTO)

Currently lodged in Banda jail, Ansari had won the Mau seat on the BSP ticket in 2017.

Mayawati had earlier stated that the BSP will not give the party ticket to gangsters, mafia dons and criminals, including Mukhtar Ansari, in the Uttar Pradesh assembly election 2022. Afzal Ansari, brother of Mukhtar Ansari, is the BSP MP from Ghazipur in eastern UP.

The BSP has pitted Shabad Fatima, a former minister in the Samajwadi Party (SP) government, against Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP) chief Om Prakash Rajbhar from Zahoorabad in Ghazipur district.

The SBSP is a Samajwadi Party ally and its chief (OP Rajbhar) has announced to field Mukhtar as the SBSP-SP alliance candidate from Mau.

The BSP on Sunday named 47 candidates for the seventh phase of the Uttar Pradesh assembly election to be held on March 7.

The BSP has named candidates for all the eight assembly seats in Varanasi district. They include Ravi Maurya from Shivpur against social welfare minister and BJP candidate Anil Rajbhar, Dinesh Kasodhan Gupta from Varanasi South against tourism minister Neelkanth Tiwari (BJP), Shyam Prakash from Varanasi North against stamp registration minister Ravindra Jaiswal (BJP).

The BSP has fielded Vinod Kumar from Saidpur in Ghazipur district against minister Subhash Pasi of the BJP. The BSP has named Bhupendra Singh for Didarganj in Azamgarh district. Former speaker Sukhdev Rajbhar had won the seat for the BSP in 2017.

The SP has fielded Sukhdev Rajbhar’s son Kamlakant Rajbhar in Didarganj. The BSP has named Abdusalam for the Mubarakpur seat and Shankar Yadav for the Sagari seat in Azamgarh.

Bahujan Samaj Party rebels Shah Alam and Bandana Singh had won the two seats in the 2017 assembly election respectively.

The BSP has fielded Wasim Iqbal from Ghosi against BJP rebel Dara Singh Chauhan, who is contesting on the SP ticket.

Dinesh Shukla is the BSP candidate from Mungra Badshahpur in Jaunpur. Party rebel Susham Patel had won the seat in 2017 but later defected to the Samajwadi Party.