This time too, Mayawati will not contest UP assembly polls

Former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati will not contest the upcoming assembly elections in the state.

"Former Chief Minister Mayawati and I will not contest the assembly elections," Bahujan Samaj Party member of Parliament Satish Chandra Misra told ANI.

Mayawati has never contested an assembly election in the state in the past.

Taking a jibe at the Samajwadi Party, Misra said, "If the Samajwadi Party does not have 400 candidates, how will they win 400 seats?"

The BSP MP said that neither the SP nor the BJP will come to power and stated that the BSP was going to form the next government in Uttar Pradesh.

Elections for the 403 assembly constituencies in Uttar Pradesh will be held in seven phases starting February 10, the Election Commission has announced.

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

The polling in Punjab, Uttarakhand and Goa will be held on February 14 and in Manipur in two phases on February 27 and March 6.

In the 2017 assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, the Bharatiya Janata Party had won 312 out of 403 seats.

The Samajwadi Party and the Congress had sealed an alliance, with the former contesting on 298 seats and the latter on the remaining 105 seats. The SP could manage to win only 47 seats and the Congress won seven seats.

The BSP had won 19 seats.