Raja Bhaiya, Pooja Pal among 60 file papers

PRAYAGRAJ: As many as 60 nominations were filed in the three districts of Prayagraj, Pratapgarh and Kaushambi (forming the Prayagraj region) for 22 seats, on Saturday.

These three districts will go to polls in the fifth phase of the seven-phase UP assembly elections on February 27.

In Prayagraj, 36 nominations were filed for 12 assembly seats, including a maximum six from Karchana followed by five from Handia and four each from Allahabad North, Bara and Meja, three each from Phulpur and Allahabad South, two each from Phaphamau and Soraon and one from Allahabad West seat. The candidates who filed their papers included BSP’s Anand Bhartiya from Soraon, BSP’s Ram Taulan Yadav from Phulpur and SP’s Mohd Mujtaba Siddiqui from Phulpur, Congress candidate Sanjay Tiwari and BSP’s Ghanshaym Pandey from Pratappur, BSP’s Narendra Kumar, AAP’s Pawan Kumar Tiwari, SP’s Hakim Lal from Handia, SP’s Sandeep Singh, AAP’s Ram Kumar Mishra from Meja and BSP’s Arvind Kumar Shukla from Karchana. Similarly, SP’s Sandeep Yadav and AAP’s Sanjeev Mishra from Allahabad Noth, AAP’s Altaf Ahmad from Allahabad South and Rajbali Jaisal of BSP from Koraon also filed their papers.

In Pratapgarh, 12 nominations were filed, including that of sixtime Independent MLA and a former UP minister Raghuraj Pratap Singh aka “Raja Bhaiya” of Jansatta Dal Loktantrik, BSP’s Muhammad Faheem and SP’s Gulshan Yadav, one-time top aide of Raghuraj Partap Singh,

from Kunda seat even as Vinod Saroj of Jansatta Dal Loktantrik and BSP’s Sushil Kumar filed their papers from Babaganj assembly constituency. Similarly, BSP’s Sanjay Tiwari filed his papers from Vishwanathganj seat while BSP’s Bankelal Patel did so from Rampur Khas assembly constituency even as SP’s Ram Singh and BSP’s Phoolchandra Mishra filed their nominations from Patti seat of the district. In Kaushambi also, 12 nominations were filed, including five for Chail, four for Sirathu and three for Manjhanpur assembly constituencies. Among the leaders who filed their

papers were former MP from Phulpur seat Nagendra Pratap Singh of Apna Dal (S), a former two-time MLA Pooja Pal of SP

and Atul Kumar Dwivedi of BSP for Chail seat and sitting MLA Lal Bahadur of BJP for Manjhanpur seat.