UP Election 2022: CM Adityanath Most Likely To Contest Polls From Ayodhya, Official Sources Confirm

A final decision in this regard may be taken when the senior BJP leaders meet to finalise candidates for the assembly elections.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. (File Photo: PTI)

New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is considering fielding Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, currently a member of the legislative council (MLC), from Ayodhya in the upcoming assembly elections.

Official sources of BJP have confirmed the report to ABP News. However, a final decision in this regard may be taken when the senior party leaders meet to finalise candidates for the assembly elections.

The decision to field Adityanath from Ayodhya, sources said, is because the BJP wants to capitalise on the sentiments of the Hindus over the construction of Ram Mandir and reinforce him as the face of the saffron party's Hindutva ideology.

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It is also being said that Adityanath contesting from Ayodhya will help in fast polarisation of votes in favour of the BJP in upcoming Assembly Polls.

Even ABP-CVoter latest round of Opinion Polls highlighted that Adityanath contesting from Ayodhya will benefit the BJP. In the survey, 56 per cent of respondents said BJP will get benefitted if CM contests from Ayodhya and 31 per cent said otherwise. 

The BJP’s Central Election Committee, whose members include Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is likely to meet soon to finalise its candidates for a large number of seats, including those voting in the first two phases on February 10 and 14.

Adityanath and other senior Uttar Pradesh BJP leaders have been holding consultations with the central leadership in the national capital for the last two days.

Adityanath, a key Hindutva face of the BJP who is also the head priest of the Goraknath Math, had recently said that he is willing to contest the elections from wherever the party’s top brass decides.

Ayodhya, Mathura and his traditional constituency Gorakhpur, which he has represented in Lok Sabha a number of times, have been seen as the most likely seat of choice for Adityanath.

Even sources close to news agency PTI said that Ayodhya, which falls in the Awadh region, ticks many boxes as the ongoing construction of the Ram temple has boosted its political profile for the BJP.

If the BJP fields Adityanath from there then it may boost the saffron party’s Hindutva plan in the area, they added. The Ayodhya seat is currently represented by BJP leader Ved Prakash Gupta in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly.

Polling for the 403-member Uttar Pradesh Assembly will be held in seven phases beginning February 10.

The polling dates will be February 10, 14, 20, 23, 27, March 3 and 7, while the counting of votes will take place on March 10.