The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) on January 27, changed two more of its candidates in Uttar Pradesh as those who switched parties have a field day in the coming Assembly election. The party had earlier changed seven of its declared candidates last week in west Uttar Pradesh.
In Dhampur, in Bijnor, the BSP has now fielded former Minister and three-time Samajwadi Party (SP) MLA Mool Chand Chauhan in place of Kamal Ahmad.
Mr. Chauhan has been a Minister in both Mulayam Singh and Akhilesh Yadav governments in 2003 and 2012. In 2017, he had stood second in Dhampur. However, the SP this time fielded Naimul Hasan, a sitting MLA in Noorpur seat in the same district, from Dhampur, following which Mr. Chauhan shifted to the BSP.
Kundarki seat of Moradabad also witnessed shifting of equations after the sitting SP MLA Mohammad Rizwan, who is a three-time legislator, was dropped in place of Zia-ur-Rehman, the grandson of Sambhal MP Shafiqur-ur-Rehman Barq. In 2017, Zia-ur-Rehman had contested on an AIMIM symbol and stood third in Sambhal securing almost 50,000 votes.
Mr. Rizwan has joined the BSP and is its new nominee in Kundarki. The BSP had earlier fielded Haji Chand Babu Malik for the seat. His supporters staged a protest after he was dropped.
The BSP also announced its candidates for Nawabganj, Faridpur and Bareilly seats in Bareilly district and Dadraul in Shahjahanpur. So far, the party has announced candidates for 113 seats.
