Seeking to poach into the backward caste voter base of the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samajwadi Party in the coming Uttar Pradesh elections beginning next month, the BJP on Wednesday decided to bank on a high number of backward caste candidates as it announced a list of 316 candidates for the polls.

The party plans to keep aside over 50 seats for its allies, the Janata Dal(U) and Apna Dal.

No effort was made to present a challenge to the Samajwadi Party’s Muslim vote bank as the party decided to field only one Muslim candidate—from Rae Bareli.

It was unanimously decided during a party meeting here that Kalyan Singh would be the chief ministerial candidate, and unlike in the past, his name would be announced before the elections. Tickets will also been given to the party’s UP unit president Kesri Nath Tripathi and Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Lalji Tandon.

The big news was the decision to field Pankaj Singh, son of party president Rajnath Singh, from Chiriya village in Chandauli district. However, soon after the meeting of the party’s Central Election Committee, Pankaj told The Indian Express that he had decided not to stand for elections. “I am grateful to my party for selecting me as a candidate, but have decided not to contest. Instead I will devote myself to organisational work. This is my personal decision.”

Party sources said the suggestion to field Pankaj came from the BJP’s Uttar Pradesh unit and was supported by the party’s top leaders Atal Bihari Vajpayee and LK Advani at the meeting of the Central Election Committee. Even though few expected the proposal to be rejected, a BJP leader said that the party’s formal position while endorsing Pankaj’s candidature was that he would help in boosting the electoral prospects of other candidates from the area. Chiriya in eastern Uttar Pradesh falls within the home turf of Rajnath Singh.

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