The ruling BJP is set to contest nine out of the 10 assembly bypolls in Uttar Pradesh leaving a lone seat for ally Rashtriya Lok Dal( RLD).

In a high-level meeting held in Delhi late Sunday evening, the party’s Central leadership has also finalised the names of the candidates for the nine seats. However, the names of the candidates will be announced only after the election commission issues notification for the bypolls.

In the meeting held at the residence of BJP National President JP Nadda, chaired by BJP President J P Nadda and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, it was decided to offer the Meerapur seat in the Muzaffarnagar district to the RLD. However, the party refused to concede any seat to the Nishad Party though it has a sitting member from the Majhwan seat in the Bhadohi district.

UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, both the deputy chief ministers, Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak, BJP State President Bhupendra Chaudhary, and General Secretary, Organization Dharampal were present in the meeting that lasted for about an hour.

However, BJP sources said on Monday that the party would field only backward leaders from the Katehri, Majhwa, and Phulpur seats. Since it is a reserved seat, the stake will be placed on a Dalit face from Milkipur.

The sources further said it has been decided in the meeting that keeping in mind the caste equation, new faces will be fielded in all the seats.

The notification for the by-elections may be issued by October 20. According to the sources, the UP government and the organization have assured the Central leadership that BJP will win most of the seats in the by-elections.

Political analysts say the ruling party remained effective in the by-elections. Nevertheless, the BJP does not want to leave any stone unturned in its preparation.

As regards the caste equation, the contest is not very difficult for the BJP in Milkipur, Katehari, Majhwan, Mirapur, Ghaziabad, and Khair. But it will face a tough challenge in SP’s Yadav family’s traditional seat Karhal and in the Muslim-dominated Kundarki and Sisamau seats.

The Samajwadi Party announced six candidates three days ago for Karhal in Mainpuri, Phulpur in Prayagraj, Katehari in Ambedkar Nagar, Majhwan in Mirzapur, Milkipur in Ayodhya, and the Sisamau seat of Kanpur.

S P President Akhilesh Yadav has announced Tej Pratap Yadav from Karhal, Mustafa Siddiqui from Phulpur, Ajit Prasad, son of MP Awadhesh Prasad, from Milkipur, Jyoti Bind, daughter of former MP Ramesh Bind, from Majhwan, Shobhawati Verma, wife of Lalji Verma, from Katehari and Naseem, wife of Irfan Solanki, from Sisamau.

The BSP has selected candidates for five seats but has not announced it officially.