2019 LS polls: BSP releases 11 candidates list

Lucknow: The BSP Friday announced its first list of 11 candidates for the Lok Sabha elections, fielding JD(S) turncoat Kunwar Danish Ali from Amroha.

Ali, who was general secretary of the Janata Dal-Secular, quit the party and joined the Bahujan Samaj Party only last week.

The BSP also declared Haji Fazulrahman its nominee from Saharanpur, Malook Nagar from Bijnore and Girish Chandra from Nagina, a party release said here.

Hazi Mohammad Yakoob has been fielded from Meerut, Satbeer Nagar from Gautam Buddh Nagar, Yogesh Verma from Bulandshahr, Ajit Baliyan from Aligarh, Manoj Kumar Soni from Agra, Rajveer Singh from Fatehpur Sikri and Ruchi Veera from Aonla.

Mayawati's BSP is contesting 38 of the 80 Lok Sabha constituencies in Uttar Pradesh under the seat-sharing arrangement with Samajwadi Party and the Rashtriya Lok Dal.

BSP chief Mayawati on Wednesday had announced she will not contest the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, but stressed it was not necessary to be an MP to become a minister or a prime minister.

The statement announcing her decision pointedly mentioned that a minister or a prime minister has six months to become a member of the Lok Sabha or the Rajya Sabha.

The BSP, Samajwadi Party and the Rashtriya Lok Dal have entered into an alliance in Uttar Pradesh for the April-May Lok Sabha polls.

The Congress is not part of this pact, but the alliance has said it will not field candidates in Amethi and Raebareli, the two seats that are now with Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi.

The Congress, in turn, said it will leave seven UP seats for the SP-BSP-RLD alliance, an offer that was spurned by Mayawati.