BSP Announces Final List Of Candidates For UP Polls

Lucknow: The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) on Sunday announced its final list of candidates for 101 Assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh.

With Sunday's announcement, the party has so far released list of 401 candidates. Candidates on the remaining two seats in Sonebhadra will be decided after a decision is made if they are general or reserved for ST, a release issued by the party said. BSP has given 87 tickets to Dalits, 97 to Muslims and 106 to OBCs, according to BSP supremo Mayawati.

Muslims constitute nearly 20 per cent of the voters in UP and had, by and large, supported the SP in the 2012 elections. However, this time they are looking for clear signals from the SP, which has been mired in factional fight between Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and his father, Mulayam Singh Yadav. Over the past few days despite several rounds of negotiations, there has been no compromise between the two sides, with both claiming the party's poll symbol, the cycle.

After SP candidates hit the ground BSP might get the first-mover advantage and benefit from the confusion in the SP camp.

PTI