The Bahujan Samaj Party’s (BSP) fifth candidate list for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections declared 11 candidates on Tuesday (16 April) for Uttar Pradesh including a change in Mainpuri.

Gulshan Dev Shakya has been replaced by Shiv Prasad Yadav in Mainpuri to challenge the incumbent Samajwadi Party (SP) MP Dimple Yadav, who filed her nomination papers today. BJP candidate here is UP Tourism Minister Jaiveer Singh.

Muslim Khan is fielded from Budaun. The SP changed its candidate here for the second time a couple of days ago, giving the ticket to Shivpal Yadav’s son Aditya Yadav. The seat was won by the BJP in 2019.

Chhotelal Gangwar is fielded from Bareilly and Udraj Verma from Sultanpur to challenge the incumbent BJP MP Maneka Gandhi. Kranti Pandey got the ticket from Farrukhabad.

Another Brahmin to get the BSP ticket is Mayank Dwivedi from Banda. The second Muslim candidate on this list is Khwaja Samsuddin, who will challenge sitting BJP MP Jagdambika Pal in Domariyaganj.

Lallan Singh Yadav is fielded from Ballia where BJP has given the ticket to former Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar’s son Neeraj Shekhar. Strongman and former BSP MP Dhananjay Singh’s third wife Shrikala Singh is fielded from Jaunpur.

Last month, BJP leader Pramod Yadav, who contested the 2012 assembly elections from the Malhani seat against Jagriti Singh, former wife of Dhananjay Singh, was fatally shot by unidentified assailants in Jaunpur district.

Former Maharashtra Congress leader Kripashankar Singh is the BJP candidate from here as Jaunpur is his native place. He is a former Kalina (in Mumbai Suburban district) MLA and former Minister of State.

As reported earlier, Atahar Jamal Lari is fielded from Varanasi against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and 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.