Uttar Pradesh elections: BJP announces list of 91 candidates; 13 ministers get tickets

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday released a list of 91 candidates for the upcoming Uttar Pradesh elections, giving tickets to 13 ministers and repeating its sitting legislator in Ayodhya. While Minister Siddharth Nath Singh will contest from Allahabad West seat, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's media advisor Shalabh Mani Tripathi got a ticket from Deora.

The BJP has dropped Co-Operative Affairs Minister Mukut Bihari Verma, whose son Gaurav Verma will be fighting polls from his Kaiserganj seat in Bahraich. The saffron party has repeated its sitting MLA from Ayodhya, Ved Prakash Gupta.

UP minister Nand Gopal Gupta 'Nandi' will be contesting from Allahabad South. Agriculture Minister Surya Pratap Shahi has also found a place on the list. He will contest from Pathardeva seat.

The list also includes Nirmal Verma (Biswan), Mayankeshwar Singh (Tiloi), Ashok Kori (Salon-SC), Dhirendra Bahadur Singh (Sareni), Suresh Kumar Pasi (Jagdishpur-SC), Rajesh Gautam (Kadipur-SC), Rakesh Sachan (Bhognipur), Ramakesh Nishad (Tindwari), Nagesh Pratap Singh (Rampur Khas) among others.

Earlier in the day, while addressing a gathering Hastinapur, UP CM Adityanath said that the BJP government has credited as much as the total annual budget of the previous government in farmers' accounts. "We provided 43 lakh houses to the poor which is higher in comparison to the houses provided from 2003 to 2017 when SP and BSP ruled the state," he added.

UP Elections to be held in seven phases

The upcoming assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh will be held in seven phases - February 10, 14, 20, 23, 27, and March 3 and 7, respectively. The counting of votes will take place on March 10.

The Bharatiya led by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is seeking to retain power. Whereas, Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party is looking to make a comeback. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is leading the Congress' campaign centred around the slogan 'Ladki Hoon Lad Sakti Hoon', signifying women empowerment.

In the 2017 Uttar Pradesh elections, BJP had won whopping 312 seats in the 403-member Legislative Assembly, where BSP won 19 seats. The SP-Congress alliance failed to bear fruits and could only win 54 seats.