Counting of votes will take place on March 10, along with Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur elections (File)
Lucknow:
The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has already finalized at least 300 candidates out of its total 403 candidates for Uttar Pradesh. Of these, 90 are Dalits, party general secretary SC Mishra said on Thursday.
Taking a dig at rival parties, he said that BJP and Samajwadi Party have not finalized their candidates yet, both the parties lack confidence in their leaders.
“Out of the 300 names finalized so far, 90 are Dalits and their number will increase as the candidates for the remaining seats are decided,” Mishra told PTI.
When asked about Brahmin and Muslim candidates, he said, “You will get to know when the list will be formally declared after Mayawati’s birthday on January 15.” Another party leader said Brahmins and Muslims have been given good representation.
Mayawati has already announced that the BSP was trying to go with its 2007 victory formula by including Dalits and Brahmins in the February-March elections. The party also has a substantial vote share among the Muslim community.
In Uttar Pradesh, where Dalits make up more than 20 per cent of the population, Brahmins make up 13 per cent and Muslims about 20 per cent.
Mishra said, “While other parties are yet to decide on their openers (candidates for the first phase of elections on February 10), BSP has shortlisted 300 candidates and the names of some have already been made public. “
Talking about the preparations for the elections, he said that he has addressed around 96 rallies in all the 75 districts of the state alone. He said that other leaders of the party have also addressed many public meetings to lay a solid foundation for the party.
Mr Mishra, a Rajya Sabha MP, is the ‘Brahmin face’ of the Mayawati-led party and has been touring the state extensively to forge closer links between Dalits and Brahmins, a social engineering that proved a success for the BSP. and brought it to power in 2007.
“Wherever party leaders are holding rallies, the names of the candidates are told to the people and the candidates are asked to leave,” Mishra said.
He said Mayawati and other party leaders have been “deeply studying” every assembly constituency for the past one year and evaluating candidates by gathering information about them from local people.
Mayawati on Thursday announced two names, one of Saeed, who joined BSP from Congress late on Wednesday, and Noman Masood.
Saeed is the son of former Uttar Pradesh home minister Saiduzzaman and Masood is the nephew of former Union minister Rashid Masood and brother of SP leader Imran Masood.
Party spokesperson MH Khan said booth-wise preparations are in full swing for six months and grassroots leaders with clean image and no criminal record have been made in-charge of their respective constituencies.
“Had the SP or the BJP had faith in the leaders of their own party, they would have announced their list and would not have waited for the turncoat before making the names of their candidates public,” Khan said.
He said though there is a rush of ticket seekers, the BSP has decided to “discourage turncoats” who keep changing their loyalties every election.
The Election Commission has announced elections in the politically important state in seven phases from February 10.
Counting of votes will take place on March 10, along with Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur elections.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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