UP BJP chief authorised to finalise names for bypolls

UP BJP chief Swatantra Dev Singh has been authorised to ‘finalise’ the names of candidates for the seven Uttar Pradesh assembly seats due for bypolls, to be held on November 3. The announcement was made in the presence of chief minister Yogi Adityanath and party’s state general secretary (organisation) Sunil Bansal.

The decision to authorise Singh was taken at a meeting of party leaders, including deputy chief minister Dinesh Sharma and national general secretary Arun Singh, in Lucknow on Thursday. Possible names of candidates for the seven seats were also discussed in the meeting.

Party’s UP general secretary Ashwini Tyagi has been tasked to give a report on Tundla assembly seat while reports for other seats have already been submitted by other party leaders tasked with the job.

These constituency reports were discussed by party leaders who also deliberated on the poll strategy to be adopted for winning these seats.

“The state BJP chief will now send the names to the party’s central leadership, which would then finalise the candidates,” a senior party leader privy to the details from the meeting, said.

The Congress, Bahujan Samaj Party and Samajwadi Party have declared their candidates for the bypolls, which is also expected to be contested by Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owasis’s All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM).

The BJP is mulling fielding family members of lawmakers, whose demise or disqualification paved the way for bypolls in these seats, said a party insider, who didn’t wish to be named.

“Final decision is to be taken by the party leadership. All deserving candidates have been considered but the final decision would be taken by the central election committee,” another party leader said.

The BJP has already started a virtual connect campaign in which the party state chief and the chief minister have been telling cadre to expose the opposition.