Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati released the second list of 51 candidates her party will field in the upcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections. The candidates will be in the fray in the second phase of elections where polling will be held on 55 seats.
“This time we’ve given slogan ‘Har Polling Booth Ko Jeetana hai, BSP Ko Satta Mein Lana Hai’,” said Mayawati.
“I hope party workers will work hard and will form BSP government like of 2007,” she added.
Last week, on her 66th birthday on January 15, Mayawati had released the first list of 53 candidates for the first phase of polls. The polling in the first phase will be held in 58 constituencies on February 10.
Addressing a press conference on the occasion, she had asked party workers to give her a birthday gift by making BSP government in the state.
Days later, the party announced changes on two seats in Agra district.
Shabeer Abbas, the Congressman in Agra, was a surprise inclusion in the BSP and was declared candidate for Agra North. Abbas replaced Murari Lal Goyal, who is a Vaishya. The Vaishya community dominates Agra North.
Another change came on the Etmadpur seat where former Zila Panchayat president from BJP Rakesh Baghel was named BSP candidate replacing Sarvesh Baghel.
The BSP chief has already announced that she will not be contesting the assembly elections.
The BSP too has seen defections in the recent months, which promoted Mayawati to give a call for strengthening the anti-defection laws. Of the 19 MLAs who had won the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls on BSP tickets, 13 have quit the party.
In the 2017 Assembly elections, the BJP won a landslide victory, bagging 312 seats. The party secured a 39.67 per cent vote share in the elections for the 403-member Uttar Pradesh Assembly.
Samajwadi Party (SP) bagged 47 seats, BSP won 19 while Congress could manage to win only seven seats.
Uttar Pradesh will go to the polls in seven phases beginning February 10 and results will be declared on March 10.
