BJP declares candidate list for UP, U'khand and Punjab polls

New Delhi, Jan 2: BJP declared its second list comprising 81 candidates for Uttar Pradesh, along with candidates for 48 seats of Uttarakhand and 20 seats of Punjab for the forthcoming Assembly elections in these states.

After declaring candidates for 143 seats of UP earlier, the BJP Central Election Committee declared candidates for 81 seats of the politically crucial state. Of these six are former ministers, six are former MLAs, eight are women, 14 are from Scheduled Caste while one is from the minority community. [Read: BJP releases third list for Uttar Pradesh polls 2012]

Daddan Mishra, who was minister in the Mayawati-led BSP government, will contest on a BJP ticket from Bhinga while another former minister from her government, Awdhesh Verma will contest from Dadraul. Former Samajwadi Party MLA Arun Yadav will now be in the fray on a BJP ticket from Jalalpur.

Former Ministers who are contesting on BJP ticket are: Bahoran Lal Maurya (Bhojipura), Dal Bahadur Kori (Salon-SC), Anil Tiwari (Bikapur) and Chandra Kishore (Maharajganj-SC). Former MLAs included in the list of candidates are: Lavkush Kumar (Nagina-SC), Ramsingh (Debai), Ramsakhi Katheraiya (Iglas-SC), Shiv Singh Chak (Tundla-SC), Rajesh Yadav (Gunnaur), Dal Singh Yadav (Jalalabad) and Ashok Dubey (Etawah).

In Uttarakhand, which has a total of 70 seats, the party declared candidates for 48 seats. Of these, three are women, nine are from the Scheduled Caste, one from Scheduled Tribe and one from the minority community. Uttarakhand Chief Minister B C Khanduri will be in the fray from Kotdwar; ex-CM Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank will contest from Doiwala; state unit chief Bishan Singh Chuphal, who is also a sitting MLA, from Didihat; and Speaker Harbansh Kapoor from Dehradun Cantt.

PTI