While it is still not clear whether chief ministerial candidates Yogi Adityanath of the Bharatiya Janata Party and Akhilesh Yadav of the Samajwadi Party will contest the coming assembly polls with both claiming that a final call will be taken in this regard by their respective parties, the Bahujan Samaj Party on Tuesday cleared that party supremo Mayawati and her number two in the party, Satish Chandra Mishra, will not contest the polls.
On Tuesday, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also hinted at not fighting the assembly elections, claiming that she has not “given a thought” to it till now. She said this while talking to a news channel.
Announcing that former chief minister of UP, Mayawati, would not contest the coming assembly election, BSP national general secretary Satish Chandra Mishra disclosed that he would also exempt himself from contesting election. He further said that the party president would soon release the list of candidates for the first phase polls.
Mayawati is presently not a member of any House of Parliament, nor does she represent the state legislature.
Mishra also attacked Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav, terming SP's claim of winning 400 seats in UP as hollow.
"The BSP will form the government in UP this year. Even people are ready to see us in power," he affirmed.
He said that although the opposition parties were making newer promises to the masses, the state had not achieved anything under the rule of the BJP or SP.
"In such a situation, the voters of the state are feeling cheated. This is the reason why voters now have faith in BSP since our party has always given importance to social justice and equality," he added.
As the polls approach, the BSP is churning out tickets. For this, Mayawati is constantly busy in review meetings, while on the other hand, screening for strong contenders is also underway.
The UP assembly polls are to commence on February 10 in seven phases, whereas the results will be declared on March 10.
In the 2017 assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, the BJP had won 312 out of 403 seats. The SP and the Congress had sealed an alliance with the former contesting on 298 seats and the latter on the remaining 105 seats. The SP could manage to win only 47 seats and Congress won seven seats, while the BSP managed to win 19 seats.