By Vivek Tripathi

Lucknow, Apr 3 (IANS): The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday annouced the candidates for the first phase of upcoming panchayat polls in Uttar Pradesh. The party has fielded 819 candidates in 20 districts where polls are scheduled to be held in four phases starting April 15.

While announcing the names, the party has tried to follow the formula of 'Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikas' as it has named candidates from Backward classes as well from Muslim community.

Mehtab Alam from Razapur seat of Ghaziabad and Ruby Begum from Gugarapur seat of Kannauj are the Muslim faces for the party in the polls.

Ex-MP Daddan Mishra has been named from Shravasti district while ex-MLA from Bareilly Subhash Patel's wife Rashmi Patel has been fielded from Ward no. 57 while Tejashwari Singh, daughter of former minister Bhanu Pratap Singh, has been named from Fatehganj. This was to send out a message that the party is not taking even Panchayat elections lightly.

Seema Chaudhary, daughter-in-law of ex-MP Baburam, has been fielded from Achhnera in Agra.

Several former district presidents have also been given preference while announcing the names, however, no office bearer has been named as state president Swatantra Dev Singh had already clarified that if any office bearer is willing to contest panchayat polls then he/she has to resign from the post.

Political analyst Prasoon Pandey said, "The BJP has deliberated seriously while announcing the candidates even for the panchayat polls in the state. It has fielded women and candidates from backward classes from the reserved seats. Eyeing the 2022 Assembly polls, the party has given preference to the people close to MPs, MLAs etc."

On giving tickets to the Muslim candidates, state general secretary Ashwini Tyagi said, "The BJP has never given ticket on the basis of religion or caste. The party has always followed the 'Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikas' formula of Prime Minister Narendra Modi."