In its latest list of 91 candidates, mostly in eastern Uttar Pradesh, the BJP has retained its trust on more than a dozen Ministers in the Yogi Adityanath-led government even as it replaced candidates in around 20 seats.
The BJP has once again fielded Ministers Suresh Pasi in Jagdishpur, Rajendra Pratap Singh ‘Moti’ in Patti, Siddharth Nath Singh in Allahabad West, Nand Gopal Gupta Nandi in Allahabad South, Ramapati Shastri in Mankapur, Jai Pratap Singh in Bansi, Satish Dwivedi in Itwa and Jai Prakash Nishad in Rudrapur.
In Jaunpur, Minister Girish Chandra Yadav retained his candidature, so did Upendra Tiwari Phephna in Ballia and Surya Pratap Shahi in Pathardeva, Deoria. Minister Shri Ram Chauhan, an MLA from Dhanghata in Sant Kabir Nagar, has been shifted to the Khajani seat, while Minister Mukut Bihari Verma has been dropped in Kaiserganj in favour of his son Gaurav Verma.
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Former Minister Anupama Jaiswal and former MP Rakesh Sachan, who recently quit the Congress to join the BJP, have also found a name in the list.
The BJP changed its sitting MLAs in Phaphamau and Koraon seats in Prayagraj, Sahajanwa in Gorakhpur, Balha in Bahraich, Rampur Karkhana and Deoria Sadar in Deoria, and Fazilnagar, Kushinagar and Hata in Kushinagar, among others.
Meanwhile, the Bahujan Samaj Party also announced candidates for more than 55 seats for the fourth phase of election.
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