UP Polls: BJP's core committee discusses possible seat-sharing with allies

A meeting of the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) core committee on the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls was held on Monday where discussions took place on possible seat-sharing with alliance partners.

The meeting which was chaired by BJP's national president JP Nadda lasted for five hours, in which Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Union Ministers Dharmendra Pradhan and Anurag Thakur, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, Dinesh Sharma, BJP State President Swatantra Dev Singh and other leaders of the core group were present.

According to sources, along with the names of the candidates for the remaining phases, seats to be allocated to the alliance partners were also discussed in the meeting.

The sources said that the virtual programs running in the state were also discussed during the meeting and it was decided to intensify the virtual program further.

The second round of the meeting will continue from 11 am on Tuesday, after which BJP's allies will be called for discussion on seats.

Earlier, BJP had released its first list of 107 candidates for the upcoming Assembly polls in which it denied tickets to 20 sitting MLAs and fielded 21 new candidates.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will contest from his stronghold Gorakhpur which elected him to Lok Sabha for five straight terms till 2017.

The BJP fielded deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya from Sirathu constituency in Prayagraj while minister Shrikant Sharma will contest from Mathura.

According to sources, a meeting of the BJP's Central Election Committee may be held on January 19 in which the names of the candidates will be finalised.

Uttar Pradesh assembly elections will be held in seven phases from February 10 to March 7.

The polling in Uttar Pradesh will be held on February 10, 14, 20, 23, 27 and March 3 and 7.

The counting of votes will take place on March 10.

(ANI)

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