BSP's List For Eastern Uttar Pradesh Sets Stage For Triangular Contest, Former SP Leader Fielded Against PM Modi In Varanasi

After declaring nine candidates in its fourth list of candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, the Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) declared two more candidates on Sunday (14 April).

The BSP has fielded Atahar Jamal Lari from Varanasi against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is seeking a third term. Congress has fielded its Uttar Pradesh president Ajay Rai from here.

Lari is a native of Varanasi and has been affiliated with Mukhtar Ansari's Quami Ekta Dal (QED) and Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party (SP) previously. He contested the 2004 election from here as an Apna Dal candidate.

The BSP has fielded Dr Umesh Singh from Ghazipur, where Paras Nath Rai with an RSS background is the BJP candidate and Mukhtar Ansari's brother Afzal is the SP candidate.

In 2019, the seat was won by Afzal on a BSP ticket. BJP's Manoj Sinha lost against him and later became Lieutenant Governor of Jammu-Kashmir. Rai is considered close to Sinha.

Umesh Singh is a lawyer by profession and has studied law at Banaras Hindu University (BHU). He was active in student politics and was one of the core members of Anna Hazare's movement at Delhi's Ramlila Maidan.

Previously, BSP declared nine candidates in eastern UP including Balkrishna Chauhan from Ghosi, who won the seat in 1999. BSP had won this seat in 2019 as well, but the candidate then was Atul Rai.

Former BSP UP president Bhim Rajbhar is fielded from Azamgarh where sitting BJP MP Dinesh Lal Yadav 'Nirahua' will take on SP's Dharmendra Yadav, who is Akhilesh's cousin.

Jawed Simnani will contest from Gorakhpur where BJP's Ravi Kishan is seeking a second term while SP has fielded Kajal Nishad. Etah, Dhaurhara, Faizabad, Basti, Chandauli and Robertsganj candidates were declared too.