Lucknow: Hours before the nomination ended, the BJP on Sunday night released its list of candidates for the civic polls in Uttar Pradesh. A rattled Congress could not announce the name of its mayoral candidate for the Lucknow Municipal Corporation an hour before the nomination for the first phase ended on Monday.
For the parties, the selection of candidates for the urban local body election has become a headache with aspirants rebelling in case of the denial of the ticket. In Shamli, BJP leader Deepak Saini consumed poison as he was not given the ticket to contest for the post of the corporator. A shocked party revised the list and included his name but in vain.
BJP's fresh list for Shamli municipal body
On Monday, the BJP released a fresh list for the Shamli municipal body. In Lucknow, over a dozen BJP rebels filed their nomination for the post of ward members on the last day. The BJP top bosses had to toil hard to finalise the names for the mayoral candidates for 17 municipal corporations. Party changed candidates in all the corporations except for Moradabad where the present mayor has been repeated.
Tough time finalising candidates
Samajwadi Party, BJP and Congress had a tough time in finalising candidates. In SP, the aspirants created ruckus in Varanasi. In Lucknow, some resigned alleging poor selection. The SP has to face least resistance over the name of its mayoral candidate in Lucknow where it fielded former JNU student union office-bearer and social activist Vandana Mishra.
BJP has fielded old party worker Sushma Khadakwal for the post of mayor in Lucknow ignoring incumbent Samyukta Bhatia and others. In Prayagraj, it denied a ticket to outgoing Abhilasha Nandi, the wife of cabinet minister Nand Gopal Gupta Nandi. Here the party has given a ticket to its city president Umesh Kesarwani.
Infighting in Congress
In Congress, infighting was visible over over the mayoral candidate in Lucknow where it could not take a call hours before the nomination ended.
Party leaders said Sangita Jaiswal was unofficially asked to file her nomination and symbol would be allotted to her later. However, compared to other parties, BSP faced no hurdle and announced its candidates well in advance.
Urban local body election on May 4, 11
The urban local body elections in UP will be held in two phases on May 4 and 11 and the counting will be done on May 13. In all the 17 municipal corporations, 199 councils and 439 nagar panchayats will elect new representatives.
Polling in eight divisions — Lucknow, Saharanpur, Moradabad, Agra, Jhansi, Prayagraj, Devipatan, Gorakhpur and Varanasi — will be held on May 4. Kanpur, Meerut, Bareilly, Aligarh, Chitrakoot, Basti, Ayodhya, Azamgarh and Mirzapur will go to polls in the second phase on May 11. Monday was the last day for filing the nomination for the first phase.
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