UP Polls: Rajnath Singh’s Son in BJP’s 2nd Candidate List

The candidates were finalised at a meeting presided by President Amit Shah.

(Photo: Reuters)

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) released its second list of 155 candidates for the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, fielding Home Minister Rajnath Singh's son Pankaj Singh from Noida.

The Bharatiya Janata Party candidates were announced by its General Secretary Arun Singh and Uttar Pradesh unit chief Keshav Prasad Maurya.

The candidates were finalised by the Central Election Committee at a meeting presided over by President Amit Shah. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and senior cabinet ministers attended the meeting.

The BJP has till now declared 304 of the 403 candidates. The staggered elections in Uttar Pradesh will start on February 11.

List of Star Campaigners Includes PM Modi and Amit Shah

On Saturday, a list of star campaigners for the upcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls was released by the BJP. The list includes Prime Minister Narendra Modi, party chief Amit Shah and senior leaders Rajnath Singh and Nitin Gadkari, to name a few.

Interestingly, party leaders LK Advani, Varun Gandhi, Sushma Swaraj, Murali Manohar Joshi and former UP BJP chief, Laxmikant Bajpai, have been left off the list.

Earlier this month, Power Minister and party leader Piyush Goyal had claimed that the BJP is leading in UP. He had said:

In UP, the BJP is far ahead. We were aiming for two-third majority even before demonetisation. The latest reports we are getting have given us the confidence that our tally will exceed 300 seats.

The Election Commission announced the dates of UP elections on 4 January.

The state will go to polls in seven phases starting from 11 February. The polling for the last phase will be held on 8 March and the results will be declared on 11 March.

(With ANI inputs)