BJP in a fix over candidates for UP bypolls

The political temperature in Uttar Pradesh is rising since the announcement of dates for bypolls to its 11 Assembly seats. The Election Commission on Saturday announced bypolls to Rampur, Gangoh, Iglas, Lucknow Cantt, Zaidpur, Manikpur, Balha, Pratapgarh, Hamirpur, Ghosi and Jalalpur seats.

Though the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has announced candidates for all these bypoll seats, the Congress for most and the Samajwadi Party (SP) for some of them, the Bharatiya Janata Party is yet released its list of candidates.

With more than 20 ticket seekers (including those who could not get a Lok Sabha ticket) staking claim to each Assembly seat, discussions are still on in the party regarding the final list of candidates from the names suggested by bypoll in-charges for every constituency.

According to the party sources, there are 28 ticket seekers in Zaidpur constituency in Barabanki district, 25 in Lucknow Cantt, 20 in Tundla and even more in some other constituency.

The BJP plans to field only winnable candidates and is going all out to end its record of poor showing in the Assembly bypolls. It hired a private agency to conduct a survey and its leaders have been claiming that the party will win all the seats in the by-elections. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has been holding rallies in the constituencies slated for bypolls and he has ensured some announcement in all the rallies that he has addressed so far.