Uttar Pradesh polls: BJP announces list of 17 candidates

The BJP on Tuesday announced a list of 17 candidates for the Uttar Pradesh polls and did not include Assembly Speaker Hriday Narain Dikshit and minister Swati Singh in it while Brijesh Pathak’s seat was changed.

The names announced on Tuesday included candidates for all the nine Assembly seats in Lucknow.

Ashutosh Shukla has been fielded from Bhagwantnagar in Unnao district where Hriday Narain Dikshit is the outgoing MLA.

Rajrejeshwar Singh, who has taken voluntary retirement after being deputed to the Enforcement Directorate from the Uttar Pradesh police, has been fielded from Sarojini Nagar, the seat of outgoing minister Swati Singh. Both Swati Singh and her husband Daya Shankar Singh had been vying for the Sarojini Nagar seat. Incumbent Lucknow (central) MLA and minister Brijesh Pathak has been fielded from Lucknow Cantonment, burying speculations of the new entrant in the BJP Aparna Yadav, the daughter-in-law of SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav, being fielded from there. Aparna Yadav had contested from the seat in the previous elections but had faced defeat.

According to the BJP’s list, state minister Ashutosh Tandon will contest from his Lucknow east seat.