Parties begin candidate selection process for first phase of UP polls

With the announcement of assembly elections, political parties have started the crucial task of candidate selection. Meetings and discussions are happening across parties especially for the first phase of assembly elections in UP, in which 58 seats of west UP are going for polls. The last date for nomination for the first phase is January 21

On Monday, the 24-member election committee of the BJP will meet in Lucknow to discuss the candidates for the first round. The meeting shall be attended by UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath, both the deputy CMs -- Keshav Prasad Maurya and Dinesh Sharma -- BJP UP president Swatantra Dev Singh, state general secretary Sunil Bansal and others. The final decision on the candidates will be taken by the BJP parliamentary board in Delhi. The election co-incharges have already submitted a report with a list of three candidates for each seat.

Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav undertook a meeting of various applicants for candidature on Sunday. However, no candidate has been given a green signal yet. While 3-4 strong applicants for each constituency have been shortlisted, Yadav is keen on watching the candidates of the BJP and other opposition parties first before announcing his own which may lead to the SP declaring its list after all parties have.



Since the election is in west UP, a good number of seats will be contested by RLD in alliance with SP. Both parties are trying to come to a consensus on which seat will be contested by whom. Apart from the seats being given to RLD, some SP candidates will also fight on the RLD symbol in the region.

RLD president Jayant Chaudhary is already collecting feedback from the party workers in the villages. On Monday, he will hold a meeting of all district presidents and office-bearers of RLD to discuss the candidates and constituencies. As of now, the number of seats being contested by the RLD has not been made public. Sources told ET that the alliance with the SP has already been done and will be announced later this week. SP leader Akhilesh Yadav and Chaudhary will discuss candidates for each seat and will jointly take a decision. BSP chief Mayawati also held a high-level meeting to select candidates on Sunday.