Leaders’ kin get fair share in BSP list

Continuing the practice of informally naming its candidates more than a year before elections, the BSP has chosen its candidates for 76 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in UP for the next parliamentary polls.

A BSP leader said the candidates have been declared at the constituency level and they have been asked to start preparing for the elections. The formal list of candidates will be released once the elections are announced, he said.

BSP Rajya Sabha member Munquad Ali, who is zonal coordinator for 22 Lok Sabha seats of western UP, said the candidates for all the seats under his supervision have been announced, except for Badaun. Former minister Jaiveer Singh has been named from Farrukhabad, while former minister Nakul Dubey has been named from Lucknow.

Rajya Sabha member Brajesh Pathak's name has been finalised for Unnao seat while the name of Brijlal Khabri, another Rajya Sabha member, has been decided for Jalaun.

Party state president Ram Achal Rajbhar said the names of candidates for almost all the Lok Sabha seats have been finalised except for four, for which the names were still being considered.

While at her first rally after the Assembly polls held in October, BSP chief Mayawati had asked the party leaders to avoid nepotism in the party, there are a large number of candidates who happen to be the relatives of party leaders.

Lok Sabha member from Ambedkar Nagar Rakesh Pandey's brother Pawan Pandey has been named from Sultanpur seat. BSP general secretary Naseemuddin Siddiqui's son Afzal Siddqui has been named from Fatehpur Lok Sabha seat. Party general secretary Swami Prasad Maurya's daughter Sanghmitra has been named from Mainpuri, which is currently represented by Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav.

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