Amit Shah chairs round 2 of BJP core group meet; discusses Uttar Pradesh election strategy

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday, January 12, chaired BJP's second round of Uttar Pradesh core group meeting. The meeting was held at party headquarters in the national capital. After the first round of meetings held on Jan 11, Amit Shah took over as three sitting BJP MLAs tendered their resignations on Tuesday. 

While BJP president JP Nadda joined the meeting virtually, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Deputy Chief Ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Dinesh Sharma, state election in-charge Dharmendra Pradhan, party general secretary BL Santosh and BJP state president Swatantra Dev Singh attended the meet. 

According to sources, poll strategy and deliberate on the name of the probable candidates who will be put before the Central Election Committee (CEC) in a couple of days were discussed in the meeting. 

"BJP is trying to bring back Swami Prasad Maurya and other three MLAs who quit on Tuesday. Also, those candidates who did not perform well and have disappointed the public will not get tickets again," sources stated.

BJP MLAs quit ahead of Uttar Pradesh election

Earlier on Jan 11, Swami Prasad Maurya tendered his resignation from Yogi Adityanath-led Cabinet. Following this, Uttar Pradesh Environment Minister Dara Singh Chauhan on Wednesday resigned from the Cabinet.

Speaking of the resignation, BJP leader Dara Singh Chauhan told the media, "BJP formed govt with the support of Dalits, backward communities...but didn't serve them well, which is why I resigned... Next step would be to hold discussions with my society people and then take a call for future course of action". 

Uttar Pradesh Elections 2022

EC on Saturday informed that Uttar Pradesh state will vote in 7 phases, between February 10 and March 7. The state's second to sixth rounds of polling are scheduled for February 14, 20, 23, 27, and March 3, respectively. It is also mentioned that the counting of votes and declaration of results is scheduled to happen on March 10.

On January 14, the notification for the first phase will be issued, while January 21 is the last date of filing nominations. And on January 24, nominations will be scrutinized, while the last date to withdraw nominations is January 27.

The remaining phases dates are as follows, January 21, 28,  29 and 31 (round 2); January 25, February 1, 2 and 4 (round 3); January 27, February 3, 4 and 7 (round 4); February 1, 8, 9 and 11 (round 5); February 4, 11, 14 and 16 (round 6); and February 10, 17, 18 and 21 (round 7).

(Image: PTI)