BJP reposes faith in sitting MPs in UP in first list

Lucknow: Apparently not wanting to take any risk, the BJP has stuck to the sitting-getting formula in the selection of its candidates from Uttar Pradesh as is evident from its first list of 51 nominees from the state declared on Saturday.

As many as 47 candidates, who have featured in the first list, are sitting MPs.  The first list also has names of candidates from seven of the 14 seats the saffron party had lost in the 2019 general elections. On four of these seven seats, new faces have been fielded.

Controversial Union Minister Ajay Mishra alias Teni, who had hit the headlines after his son was charged with driving a jeep into a crowd of farmers agitating in support of their demands in Lakhimpur-Kheri district in 2022 killing four people, has been fielded from Lakhimpur seat.

Similarly Kaushal Kishore, another controversial figure, has been renominated from Mohanlalganj Lok Sabha seat. Kaushal Kishore had hit the headlines after a youth was allegedly shot dead at his son Vikas' residence in Lucknow last year.

Film actress-turned-politician and sitting MP from Mathura Hema Malini has also been renominated contrary to the speculations that she could be replaced this time. 

The saffron party has reposed faith in Laloo Singh again and fielded him from Ayodhya though there were reports that Sadhvi Niranjana Jyoti, the sitting MP from Fatehpur, could be fielded from the seat.

Bhojpuri film actor Dinesh Lal Yadav Nirahua has been fielded from Azamgarh Lok Sabha seat. Nirahua had defeated senior Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Dharmendra Yadav from the seat in a by-poll after the then MP and SP president Akhilesh Yadav resigned from there following his election to the state assembly.

While Prime Minister Narendra Modi would contest from Varanasi for the third straight time, Union Ministers Rajnath Singh and Smriti Irani have been renominated from Lucknow and Amethi seats respectively.

The BJP has not declared candidates on 29 seats as some of these seats would be given to its alliance partners including the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), Apna Dal, Nishad Party and Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party.