The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) on Wednesday replaced its candidates on seven seats in western Uttar Pradesh, with the adjustment of new entrants and rebels.
Former MLA and Gurjar leader Kartar Singh Bhadana was nominated as the candidate from the Khatauli seat in Muzaffarnagar. He replaced Majid Siddiqui, the BSP’s Muzaffarnagar district president, who was earlier declared the party’s candidate.
Mr. Bhadana had won the seat in 2012 on a Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) symbol. The BSP had earlier nominated Muslims on four out of the six seats in Muzaffarnagar, including Khatauli.
In Ghaziabad, Suresh Bansal, whom the BSP had named as candidate, was replaced by a new entrant from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Krishna Kumar Shukla, who was the saffron party’s western region vice-president but quit as he was not given a ticket.
Madan Chauhan, who won the Garhmukteshwar seat in Hapur thrice (2002, 2007 and 2012) as a Samajwadi Party member, will be the new BSP candidate. He replaces Mohammad Arif. Mr. Chauhan had lost the last election, being relegated to a third spot.
In Mathura, too, the BSP changed its candidate in favour of a rebel, this time the BJP’s Satish Sharma, who had unsuccessfully contested from the Mant seat in the last election.
In Etmadpur, Agra, Prabal Pratap Singh alias Rakesh Baghel, a former Zilla Panchayat chairperson, made the jump from the BJP to replace the earlier declared candidate Sarvesh Baghel.
In Agra North seat, the BSP fielded senior Congress leader Shabbir Abbas after he quit the grand old party on Tuesday. The BSP had earlier nominated Murari Lal Goyal from the seat.
The BSP also changed its candidate for the Khair seat in Aligarh.
With five other names and the seven replacements, the BSP has now nominated candidates for all 58 seats in the first phase of voting.
