To achieve the target of winning 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh, the ruling BJP has released another list of 13 candidates with tickets being denied to nine sitting MPs including Varun Gandhi and union minister General V K Singh.
For UP, 13 names have been declared in this second list whereas 51 names were declared in the first list.
In the list of 13 candidates, nine new faces have been included and tickets to many sitting MPs have been cut. In Barabanki , a new face has been given after the three-time sitting member refused to contest.
Among the current MPs to whom tickets have been denied were senior leader and eight-time MP from Bareilly Santosh Gangwar, Pilibhit MP Varun Gandhi, Union Minister VK Singh, Barabanki MP Upendra Rawat, Swami Prasad Maurya’s daughter Sanghamitra Maurya, Satyadev Pachauri from Kanpur seat, Rajendra Agarwal from Meerut seat, Akshayvar Lal Gaur from Bahraich (reserved) and Rajveer Singh Diler, MP from Hathras (reserved) seat.
BJP has expressed confidence in only two sitting MPs in this list. Maneka Gandhi from Sultanpur and Satish Gautam from Aligarh will fight to retain their seats. Nine new faces have been included in the fifth list of 13 candidates.
Out of 80 Lok Sabha seats in UP , BJP has kept 75 seats for itself, while five seats have been left for allies. Among these, Bijnor and Baghpat have been given to RLD, Mirzapur and Robertsganj to Apna Dal (Sonelal) and Ghosi seat to Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP) .
The BJP has so far declared candidates for 63 out of 75 seats under its quota.
Candidates for seats which are yet to be announced are Rae Bareli, Machhlishahr, Kaiserganj, Prayagraj, Phulpur, Kaushambi, Ballia, Ghazipur, Bhadohi, Deoria, Mainpuri and Firozabad seats.