Lucknow: The BJP appears to have kept the caste factor in mind while picking candidates which will help it reach its ‘target’ of 74 seats from Uttar Pradesh in the Lok Sabha elections.
Of the total 80 seats in the state, the Bharatiya Janata Party has so far declared 61 candidates, with the Brahmins getting the most nominations, followed closely by backward communities and the Dalits.
Fifteen seats have been allotted to Brahmins, 14 to backward community leaders, 13 to Dalits, 10 to Kshatriyas, four Jats, two Gurjars and one each to Vaishya, Parsi and Bhumihar castes, said party leaders.
But the party claimed caste was not taken into account.
“Our party does not believe in caste politics. The tickets are given considering winnability and local factors. All aspects are being taken into account before declaration of tickets by the party leadership,” a senior BJP leader said.
“If you go through the BJP list, it will be seen that the party has taken minimum risk in ticket distribution. Seats where sitting MPs have been dropped, the new candidates are of the same caste,” said senior journalist and political analyst Hemant Tiwari.
“The BJP has applied (the) tested social engineering formula and it’s major thrust in this election seems to be on the non-Yadav OBCs, non-Jatav SCs and upper castes especially Brahmins and Kshatriyas due to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath,” he said.
The National Democratic Alliance won 73 seats (71 for BJP and 2 for Apna Dal) in 2014 polls in UP. The BJP is keen on maintaining its winning spree here and its leaders have been given a target of ‘74 plus seats’ this time.
PTI
