BJP releases third list of UP candidates, Swami Prasad Maurya to contest from Padrauna

NEW DELHI: Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday announced 67 names in its third list of candidates for the upcoming Uttar Pradesh assembly elections. With this list, the BJP has declared candidates on 370 seats out of 403 seats. Former BSP leader Swami Prasad Maurya, who had joined BJP last year, will contest from Padrauna seat of Kushinagar district. Surya Pratap Shahihas been fielded from Pathardeva constituency. BJP had on Sunday released its second list of 155 candidates for the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, which featureD children of at least three party bigwigs and a few defectors from other parties. The most prominent among the so-called ‘star kids’ is Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh’s son Pankaj Singh, who has been given ticket from Noida. Pankaj, according to sources, was keen on contesting from Sahibabad, but the BJP chose to field former MLA from Ghaziabad Sunil Sharma from that seat. Besides, Lucknow MP Lalji Tandon’s son Ashutosh Tandon alias Gopalji has been given ticket from the Lucknow East seat — which he won during the by-election in 2014 — and Kairana MP Hukum Singh’s daughter Mriganka Singh has been fielded from Kairana. The BJP openly criticises “bhai-bhatijawad” (nepotism) in politics. (With PTI inputs)