BJP today announced candidates for all nine Lucknow seats after a long discussion. High profile hopefuls from the capital Lucknow, Aparna Yadav, the daughter-in-law of Samajwadi Party patriarch and former chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav, and BJP MP Rita Bahuguna Joshi’s son Mayank Joshi, were both not on the list.
Former Enforcement Directorate officer Rajeshwar Singh, whose voluntary retirement was today accepted by the union government has been given the party ticket from the Sarojini Nagar assembly seat. Swati Singh, state’s minister of state for woman welfare, and her husband Dayashankar Singh were both eyeing the seat.
The high-profile Lucknow Cantonment seat, where both Ms Yadav and Mr Joshi were hoping to be nominated, has been given to state minister Brijesh Pathak. This is considered a safe seat for The party. Rita Bahuguna Joshi had defeated Aparna Yadav on this seat in the last elections.
The BJP had won eight out of the nine seats in Lucknow in the last state elections.
Ashutosh Tandon, another state minister, has been given the ticket from Lucknow East. Rajneesh Gupta has been announced the candidate from Lucknow Central.
Elections will be held in the state in seven phases from February 10 to March 7.
