Lok Sabha elections 2024: BJP likely to announce candidates on ‘weak seats’ in UP before declaration of poll dates, say sources

Lok Sabha polls latest: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is likely to announce its candidates on “weak seats” in Uttar Pradesh before the Election Commission of India (ECI) announces dates for the upcoming elections. 

Top BJP leaders, including Union Home Minister Amit Shah, party president J P Nadda, and UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, held a meeting to discuss the seats on which the party may find it challenging to secure electoral gains, India Today TV reported citing sources aware of the matter.  

Uttar Pradesh Deputy CMs Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak as well as other leaders of the state’s core committee were also present during the meeting. The development comes days after INDIA alliance parties Congress and Samajwadi Party arrived at an agreement regarding seat-sharing in the most populous state. 

In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP won 62 out of 80 seats in Uttar Pradesh whereas the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) won 10 seats, the Samajwadi Party (SP) nine and the Congress could manage to bag only five seats. 

Inside Congress-SP seat-sharing in Uttar Pradesh

As per this agreement, the Congress will field its candidates on strongholds Raebareli and Amethi. The grand old party will also field its candidate on the Varanasi seat, which is the Lok Sabha constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. 

Besides this, the party will also contest on Lok Sabha seats of Prayagraj, Fatehpur Sikri, Maharajganj, Ghaziabad, Saharanpur, Kanpur Nagar, Amroha, Jhansi, Basgaon, Mathura, Bulandshahr, Sitapur, Barabanki and Deoria. 

The seat-sharing agreement between the Congress and the SP was finalised after Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra met Akhilesh Yadav to break the deadlock between the two parties. 

Sources said Priyanka Gandhi was the brain behind the seat-sharing deal in Uttar Pradesh. Vadra initiated the conversation and spoke to Yadav after discussing the matter with Rahul Gandhi, they noted. 

Will TMC contest from UP? 

Moreover, Trinamool Congress (TMC), another party in the INDIA alliance, is also likely to contest from one seat in Uttar Pradesh in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. 

Akhilesh Yadav, Samajwadi Party boss and former Chief Minister, has agreed to give the Chandauli seat to TMC. Former CM Kamalpati Tripathi’s grandson Rajeshpati Tripathi is likely to be fielded from the seat, as per sources. Tripathi joined the Trinamool Congress in 2021. 

Also Read: Adhir Chowdhury of Congress ‘biggest obstacle' in seat sharing deal, say Trinamool sources

Also Read: Lok Sabha elections 2024: AAP, Congress seal deal for Delhi, Haryana, Gujarat, Chandigarh, Goa