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UP elections: BJP to finalise candidates’ list today
The BJP leadership, including UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath, met in the capital on Monday to discuss the names of the remaining candidates for the seven-phase assembly elections in the state.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leadership, including Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, met in the capital on Monday to discuss the names of the remaining candidates for the seven-phase assembly election in the state.
The party has already announced the names of 197 candidates. The remaining names will be announced after the party’s central election committee meets on Tuesday, said functionaries aware of the development.
The BJP, which is contesting the upcoming UP assembly polls in alliance with the Apna Dal and the Nishad Party, is likely to put up candidates in about 380 seats of the 403-member assembly, a party functionary said.
“The BJP has nearly finalised the seat-sharing agreement with the allies, the Apna Dal and the Nishad Party, and last-minute negotiations are underway for a handful of seats in the purvanchal,” the functionary said, requesting anonymity.
Last week, party president JP Nadda addressed a press conference flanked by Anupriya Patel of the Apna Dal and Sanjay Nishad of the Nishad Party to assert that the allies are geared up to “jointly” contest all the 403 seats.
In 2017, the Apna Dal had contested on 11 seats and won nine. This time, the party has been pushing the BJP to increase its quota in the seat distribution. Nishad Party is also pushing for a double-digit seat allocation.
The BJP is also expected to shift some of the sitting legislators from their existing constituencies to boost its chances of improving the overall tally.
While about a dozen legislators will move to new constituencies, between 70-80 will be dropped to buck anti-incumbency, the functionary said.
“The party also follows the practice of giving newer faces a chance. This time we have announced that requests for multiple tickets per family will not be entertained ,” said a second functionary.
The BJP has had to revisit its initial plan of dropping over 40% of the siting MLAs following the exit of three ministers from the other backward classes and a clutch of legislators. The party is mindful of the resentment such a move can set off, the second functionary said, declining to be named.
“The anti-incumbency is usually against the sitting lawmaker and the BJP for long has followed a practice of dropping up to 30% of the sitting candidates,” the second functionary said. “But overall, ticket distribution is based on winnability.”
