Lucknow: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has released its second list of 155 candidates for the upcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections 2017 on Sunday evening which includes Pankaj Singh, the son of union Home Minster Rajnath Singh and Mriganka Singh and also Rita Bahuguna Joshi as the candidate from Lucknow Cantt.
Almost 50 sons, daughters and other relatives from BJP leaders are contesting for this year’s UP elections, which is going to held in seven phases from February 11 with no Muslim nominee among them.
Pankaj is currently holding the post of the party’s UP general secretary. He wanted to contest the 2014 Lok Sabha elections but was not fielded by the BJP now he will be contesting as the BJP candidate from Noida.
Ajay Sharma, city president, BJP, said. “The party leadership took the final call on the allotment of tickets. We’re all set to take the battle to the opposition now. The alliance between the Congress and the Samajwadi Party is proof that they are scared of the BJP and have joined hands in a last-ditch attempt to garner votes.”
The polling in the first two phases on February 11 and February 15, covers areas with the sizeable Muslim population, the BJP didn’t nominate single Muslim candidate.
Muslims account for nearly 20 per cent of the voters in Uttar Pradesh. Muslims are considered the traditional vote-bank of the ruling Samajwadi Party who had, by and large, supported the SP in the 2012 elections, are in dilemma following the factional fight between Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and his father Mulayam Singh Yadav. The seven-phased election for the Uttar Pradesh Assembly will conclude on March 8 and results will be announced on March 11.
With the release of its second list on Sunday, the BJP declared nominees from 304 of the 403 assembly seats in UP. BJP named its candidates for all five assembly seats in the district Loni, Murad Nagar, Sahibabad, Ghaziabad and Modi Nagar.
BJP hasn’t declared its Ghaziabad nominee the Ajit Singh-led party has named candidates for four of the five Ghaziabad seats.