UP BJP focusses on 26 seats for a third consecutive win

Lucknow, April 26 The Bharatiya Janata Party in Uttar Pradesh is working overtime to ensure a third consecutive win on more than two dozen seats that it had won in the 2014 and 2019 elections.

The exercise is part of a larger strategy to win all 80 seats in the state.

Among the 26 odd MPs who will be trying their luck for a third consecutive term from the same constituency are Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Varanasi, Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh from Lucknow and Mahendra Nath Pandey from Chandauli.

Others in this category include former Union minister Mahesh Sharma from Gautam Buddha Nagar, Bhola Singh from Bulandshahr, Satish Gautam from Aligarh, Dharmendra Kashyap from Aonla, Hema Malini from Mathura, Ajay Mishra Teni from Kheri, Rekha Verma from Dhauraha, Rajesh Verma from Sitapur and Sakshi Maharaj from Unnao.

Also in the list are Kaushal Kishore from Mohanlalganj, Maneka Gandhi from Sultanpur, Mukesh Rajput from Farrukhabad, Devendra Singh Bhole from Akbarpur, Bhanu Pratap Singh Verma from Jalaun, Pushpendra Singh Chandel from Hamirpur, Niranjan Jyoti from Fatehpur, Vinod Sonkar from Kaushambhi, Lallu Singh from Faizabad, Kirti Vardhan Singh from Gonda, Jagdambika Pal from Domariyaganj, Harish Dwivedi from Basti, Ravindra Kushwaha from Salempur and Pankaj Chaudhary from Maharajganj.

Pankaj Chaudhary, in fact, is the only MP who is looking at a second hat-trick. He first won three consecutive terms in 1991, 1996 and 1998 as a BJP candidate. He won again in 2004 and then in 2014 and 2019.

Kamlesh Pawan from Bansgaon is seeking his fourth term from the same seat while Domariyaganj MP Jagdambika Pal is also seeking his fourth consecutive term.

In Agra, Aonla, Gorakhpur, Meerut and Pilibhit, the BJP is aiming for a hat trick and to check the anti-incumbency factor, the party changed candidates in Meerut and Pilibhit.

All these contestants are from the BJP.

Another seat aiming for a hat trick is Mirzapur from where Anupriya Patel of Apna Dal (S) has been winning since 2014 and then 2019.

A senior BJP functionary said, “We are working on these constituencies to ensure that the anti-incumbency factor does not set in. We have changed candidates in some and are changing our poll strategy in other constituencies to ensure a smooth victory run.”

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