Lok Sabha polls 2024: BSP's fourth list eyes OBC, Brahmin voters in eastern UP

BSP has fielded Sachhidanand Pandey from Faizabad (Ayodhya). Pandey would take on BJP's Lallu Singh, the sitting MP, and the Samajwadi Party (SP) nominee Awadhesh Prasad. The party has made Daya Shankar Mishra its candidate from Basti LS seat, which shares a border with Gorakhpur, the home town of chief minister Yogi Adityanath.

Lucknow: The BSP on Friday released its fourth list of nine candidates from Uttar Pradesh, which included three OBCs and an equal number of Brahmins, apparently eyeing the votes of the two communities in the state's eastern region.

Of the nine Lok Sabha seats from where the party declared its candidates, seven were in the eastern region of the state while the other two were in the Avadh region.

BSP has fielded Sachhidanand Pandey from Faizabad (Ayodhya). Pandey would take on BJP's Lallu Singh, the sitting MP, and the Samajwadi Party (SP) nominee Awadhesh Prasad. The party has made Daya Shankar Mishra its candidate from the Basti LS seat, which shares a border with Gorakhpur, the home town of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

Shaym Kishore Awasthi, also a Brahmin, who had crossed over to the party from the BJP a few days back, was fielded from Dhaurahara LS seat in the Avadh region.

Bhim Rajbhar, an OBC, has been fielded by the BSP from Azamgarh LS seat. The Azamgarh seat, considered to be a bastion of the Samajwadi Party (SP), has a sizable strength of 'Rajbhar' voters. Interestingly the BJP has roped in Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj [arty (SBSP), a predominantly Rajbhar outfit, to its fold and has also allotted it the Ghosi LS seat.

BSP has fielded Balkrishna Chauhan, an OBC, from the Ghosi LS seat. The SBSP has fielded Arvind Rajbhar from Ghoshi. Another OBC Satyendra Kumar Maurya was fielded from the Chandauli LS seat. The BSP has fielded Javed Simnani and Irfan Mohammed from the Gorakhpur and Etah seats respectively.

The BSP has so far declared its candidates from 45 seats in UP. The party has fielded as many as nine Muslims banking apparently on its 'Muslim-Dalit' equations, especially in the western and central regions of the state.