LS polls: Leaders’ kin get fair share in BSP list

Continuing the practice of informally naming its candidates more than a year before elections, the Bahujan Samaj Party has chosen its candidates for as many as 76 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats of the state for the next parliamentary polls.

A BSP leader said that the candidates have been declared at the constituency level and they have been asked to start preparing for the elections. However, the formal list of candidates will be released only 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 had been announced except for Badaun, for which they were still considering the names.

Former minister Jaiveer Singh has been named from Farrukhabad seat, while former minister Nakul Dubey has been named from Lucknow Lok Sabha seat.

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

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

While, at her first rally after the Assembly elections held in October, party 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 Lok Sabha seat. BSP general secretary Naseemuddin Siddiqui's son Afzal Siddqui has been named for the Fatehpur seat.

Party general secretary Swami Prasad Maurya's daughter Sanghmitra Maurya has been named for the Mainpuri seat which is currently represented by SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav.

... contd.

ALSO READ

At AMU, students more bothered about ban on motorbikes than wearing sherwanis

Mulayam pep talk for backward caste leaders

Acquitted in riot case, Varun free of all charges in Pilibhit

Lokayukta files complaint on ‘misuse’ of MLA funds