Rashtriya lok Dal (RlD) chief Chaudhary Ajit Singh issued the ninth list of contestants for the imminent Assembly elections on Saturday.
The list include seats from east UP where the RlD has fielded candidates for the first time with a plan to expand it political base after the western region. Earlier in the 2007 Assembly polls, the RlD had contested on 250 seats and this time it is contesting on all 403 seats.
As per the list, Pradeep Yadav will contest from Mainpuri, Raj Kumar Gupta from laharpur, RP Singh Chauhan from Biswan, Bhola Nath Verma from Mahmoodabad, Sunita Chaudhary from Mishrik, Shobhit Pathak from Shahabad, Gangaram lodhi from Sandila, Rajbabu Yadav from Bakshi Ka Talab (lucknow), employee leader Ramesh Chandra Srivastava from lucknow Central, former MlA Arun Pratap Singh from lambhua, Brijendra Singh Yadav from Amritpur, Jagpal Singh Yadav from Jaswant Nagar, Balwan Singh Yadav from Akbarpur, Dharmendra Yadav from Kanpur Cantt, Raj Kumar Tiwari from Maharajpur, former minister Shiv Shanker Singh Patel from Baberu, former MlA Aditya Pandey from Jahanabad, Shivsaran Singh Yadav from Hussainganj, Arvind Kumar from Rampur Khas, Dharmendra Tiwari from Partapgarh, Misbaul Haq from Barabanki, Surjeet Kumar Srivastava from Dariyabad, Dr Ashok Kumar Sain from Katehari, Vinod Yadav from Tanda, Ravishchandra Patel from Jalalpur, Kriparam Verma from Nanpara, Sher Singh from Kaptanganj, Vijay Singh from Farenda, Sadamohan Upadhyay from Nautanwa, Gorakh Singh from Campierganj, Rakesh Kumar Nishad from Sahjanwa, Jawahar Yadav from Fazil Nagar, Raj Kapoor from Rudrapur, Ranjeet Vishwakarma from Pathardewa, Shivaji Rai from Rampur, Vasudev Yadav from Bhatpar Rani, Ajay Naresh Yadav from Phoolpur Pawai, Dr Haridwar Singh Yadav from Sakaldeeha and Jaswant from Robertsganj.
Party sources said that 12 of the 40 contestants were Yadav and the party brass had tried to match the candidates contesting election on tickets from Samajwadi Party, Bhartiya Janta Party and Bahujan Samaj Party.
“The party leadership had tried to foray into eastern UP with an aim to broaden its base. Previously, the RlD was looked as a formidable political force in west UP only,” they said