BSP panels recommend 18 names for 9 seats of Prayagraj
The party is believed to have already finalised names for the remaining three seats of Allahabad North, Phulpur and Pratappur
PRAYAGRAJ : After scrutiny of the biodatas of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) ticket seekers for the 2022 UP assembly polls, the district, assembly constituency and main sector in-charge committees of the party have sent around 60 applications for 12 assembly seats of Prayagraj district to BSP chief Mayawati, say party office bearers.
Besides, these committees in their report have also recommended the names of 18 prospective candidates for nine assembly seats of the district, they added. These nine seats are Phaphamau, Soraon, Handia, Meja, Karchhana, Allahabad West, Allahabad South, Bara and
Koraon.
Candidates for the remaining three assembly seats of Allahabad North, Phulpur and Pratappur are believed to have already been finalised by the party with two Brahmin and one Muslim faces, says a senior BSP leader privy to the information.
Abhishek Gautam, the newly appointed BSP Prayagraj district unit president, confirmed that names of probable candidates had been sent to the party headquarters. “Now, our national president Mayawati ji and senior leaders will make a final call in this regard,” he added.
Party insiders say the BSP chief was likely to meet the ticket seekers before putting the final seal on the names of the candidates and for which the party has started calling potential candidates to Lucknow for interview.
Mayawati is expected to ask the ticket seekers about their political journey and their reason for considering them as a strong candidate for the party. They may also be asked about the works done by them in the constituency from where they wish to contest.
Requesting anonymity, a senior BSP leader said it was expected that the party might come out with a list of candidates for select seats near November 15. However, he said, this time the party might delay naming candidates for many seats till close to election time so as to field worthy candidates while taking into account the candidates named by the Bharatiya
Janata Party and the Samajwadi Party.
If party leaders are to be believed, the BSP may field a leader of the Pal community from the Allahabad West seat to make up for its former MLA Puja Pal (who lost the elections from the seat in 2017 to BJP’s Sidharth Nath Singh) having left the party.
On Allahabad West and Allahabad South seats, the BSP committees have forwarded names of three leaders each as potential candidates, including two Muslim leaders each on both seats. Party leaders claim that name of a Brahmin trader leader has already been finalised by the party to contest from Allahabad North seat.
The most intense fight is for the seats of Pratappur and Soraon from where party’s sitting MLAs Mujtaba Siddiqui and Hakim Lal Bind (the only two seats that BSP could win in 2017 out of 12 in Prayagraj) have defected to the Samajwadi Party. Party leaders say while the BSP can field a Muslim face from Pratappur, it will be fielding a Brahmin leader from Handia seat.