UP polls: BJP finalises candidates for 175 seats

The Bharatiya Janata Party is considering fielding Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath from Ayodhya in the upcoming assembly elections, sources in the party said on Wednesday as senior leaders met to finalise candidates.

On the second day of the three-day meeting of the BJP core committee on Uttar Pradesh, the names of the candidates for nearly 175 assembly seats have been finalised, sources in the party said.

Yogi Adityanath is likely to be fielded from Ayodhya and his name could appear on the first list to be released by the party soon.

The BJP has scrutinised the candidates for more than 300 assembly seats of Uttar Pradesh in the meeting.

Deliberation will continue on the names of the candidates on Thursday, the last day of the meeting, said sources.

In the Central election committee scheduled to be held on Thursday, the names of the candidates could be finalised.

On the seats (90) where the party had suffered loss in the 2017 assembly elections, it is expected to field new candidates on almost half of the number of seats.

The seats of some of the sitting ministers could also be changed whose report card has not had much to show, thus has brought displeasure among the voters, said the sources.

Meanwhile, the meeting of the BJP core committee on the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls held on Tuesday lasted for nearly 10 hours wherein Union home minister Amit Shah conducted a sector-wise review of six areas and took feedback from the regional in charges about the ground reality in the state.

Earlier the sources had said that the names of the candidates considered in Tuesday's meeting will be placed before the central election committee on Thursday for the final go-ahead from the top leadership.

The BJP's 24-member Uttar Pradesh election committee met on Monday in Lucknow and deliberated on the names of probable candidates for 113 constituencies that will go to the polls in the first two phases of the seven-phase Assembly elections that begin on February 10.

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

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