Both the BJP an the Congress have been engaged in an exercise to shortlist their candidates to contest the 90 seats in the state Assembly, but a clear picture is yet to emerge because of an almost ten-fold increase in the number of aspirants from both parties.

The number of aspirants for BJP tickets swelled, particularly after its senior leaders dropped hints that the party could deny tickets to a number of its sitting legislators, including ministers, in order to beat the anti-incumbency factor. Talk about the BJP adopting the ‘Modi formula” of bringing in new faces to replace its “unpopular legislators” has left many leaders in a dilemma. Worried over the possibility of sabotage during the elections, the BJP is working out strategies to deal with any such situation, with party president Rajnath Singh recently visiting the state capital to guide their leaders about the need for intra-party discipline.

On the other hand, with almost a thousand aspirants vying for party tickets, infighting is at its peak within the Congress, as its leaders are lobbying to get the maximum number of tickets for their supporters. However, State Congress working president Satya Narayan Sharma told The Indian Express that the party has narrowed down its candidates for 50 constituencies. “Winning prospects is the only criteria for tickets,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) are keeping a keen eye on the developments within the BJP and Congress so as to poach rebels from the mainstream parties.

Although the BSP has already released its list of candidates for all 90 seats, state president Dauram Ratnakar has indicated that the party is open to replacing any of them in the event of the BSP winning over a suitable candidate. “A large number of BJP and Congress leaders are in touch with us”, said Ratnakar. The NCP, on the other hand, has no other option other than to rope in rebels from the Congress, which is apparently not willing to forge any state-level alliance with Sharad Pawar’s party. State NCP president Novil Kumar Verma openly stated that his party would field its candidates in about 40 seats if the Congress-NCP poll alliance did not materialise. “Our doors are open for Congress rebels,” he added.

For Date Line stories, visit www.expressindia.com/dateline