UP polls: Yogi will seek the mandate from Gorakhpur

Yogi Adityanath and Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya will compete in Gorakhpur Urban and Sirathu, respectively, in the first round of BJP candidates for the assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh. In addition, 57 candidates are listed for the first phase and 48 for the second phase.

In his comments to the media, Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said, "We have announced 57 seats out of 58 in phase one of the elections and 48 out of 55 in phase two. There are a few more seats to be determined in the meeting of our party's Parliamentary Board and the National President has been given the right to decide. Additionally, some seats will be given to our alliance partners. Therefore, we are not declaring these seats today."

In Gorakhpur Urban, which will be contested in the sixth phase, Yogi Adityanath will run for the race. Keshav Prasad Maurya, Deputy Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, will run in Sirathu, where the election will be held in the fifth phase. Associating all sections of society with the list of candidates, Pradhan said, "We will field representatives from the scheduled castes for general seats."

"Ek kalyaanakaaree, sarvasparshee aur sanvedanasheel shaasan pichhale 5 saal mein bhaajapa ne Uttar Pradesh mein diya hai. Hamen vishvaas hai ki 2022 ke is mahaaparv mein usee spashtata ke saath UP ke janata punah hamen aasheervaad degee (A welfare, all-touching and sensitive government has been given by BJP in Uttar Pradesh in the last 5 years. We are confident that the people of UP will again bless us in the great festival of 2022 with the same clarity)," Pradhan said.

While Pradhan announced the candidature of Yogi and his deputy, Maurya, the other candidates were declared by BJP general secretary Arun Singh.

In addition to UP's Power Minister Shrikant Sharma from Mathura, Animal Husbandry Minister Chaudhary Laxmi Narayan Singh from Chaata, Noida MLA Pankaj Singh, and Thana Bhawan MLA Suresh Rana, the BJP's first list included four sitting MLAs.