Polls a year away,BSP starts naming candidates

The Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh are more than a year away but the ruling Bahujan Samaj Party has already started announcing names of candidates.

The Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh are more than a year away but the ruling Bahujan Samaj Party has already started announcing names of candidates. The party has finalised names for almost half of the 402 seats.

Other parties,quite obviously,have not even initiated the process.

Party sources said most of the candidates will be finalised by January 15,the birthday of the Chief Minister and party president Mayawati. All names will be announced by January 31. On Tuesday,the party announced candidates for seven out of nine seats in Lucknow district and all six seats in neighbouring Unnao district.

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The most significant announcement in Unnao was the candidature of Narendra Pratap Lodhi for the Purwa Assembly seat. He is the son of Sunder Lal Lodhi,Samajwadi Party MLA from Hadha.

The other candidates from Unnao are Ram Badan Kureel from Safipur,Radhe Lal Rawat from Hasanganj,Kripa Shankar Singh from Bhagwant Nagar,who is the sitting BSP MLA,Rajya Sabha MP Brijesh Pathaks wife Namrata Pathak from Unnao and Irshad Khan from Bangarmau.

In the 2007 Assembly polls,Irshad was elected from Sarojini Nagar seat in Lucknow district.

Health Minister Anant Mishra is the candidate from Lucknow North. In 2007,he had entered the Assembly from the Farrukhabad seat in a by-election.

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Urban Development Minister Nakul Dube will be the candidate from Bakshi Ka Talaaab,a new seat created after delimitation by abolishing the Mahona Assembly seat. In 2007,Dube was elected from Mahona.

Dr Shahid Siddiqui will contest from Lucknow West,Fakir Siddiqui from Lucknow Central,Pushpa Rawat from Mohanlalganj,former state BSP president K K Sachan from Lucknow East and Siddharth Shankar,sitting MLA,from Malihabad (reserved).

The names were announced in a meeting of BSP leaders of Lucknow division.