Lucknow, Feb 7 (IANS): The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has denied tickets to wives of two party leaders but has nominated their husbands for the ongoing Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.

In the ninth list of candidates released late Sunday evening, BJP State Vice-President, Daya Shankar Singh has been named as a party candidate from the Ballia Assembly constituency. His wife and cabinet minister, Swati Singh, has already been denied ticket from the Sarojini Nagar Assembly constituency in Lucknow.

In Amethi, Sanjay Sinh has been named a BJP candidate while his first wife and sitting MLA, Garima Singh has been denied a ticket.

Overall, the BJP has replaced at least 15 of its sitting MLAs in the Assembly constituencies of eastern UP, going to the polls in the sixth and seventh phase. There are seven women in the candidate list.

Continuing with its OBC outreach, the saffron party has fielded 14 candidates from the group comprising castes like Kurmi, Rajbhar, Nishad and Nonia. There are nine Dalits and Thakurs, and eight Brahmins in the list.

Uttar Pradesh Minister, Anand Swaroop Shukla has been shifted to Bairia Assembly constituency in Ballia district where controversial MLA Surendra Singh has been dropped.

Surendra Singh announced his decision to contest as an independent candidate.

The sitting MLA from Lambhua in Sultanpur, Deomani Tripathi, who hogged limelight for writing letters to state Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath concerning atrocities against Brahmins, also failed to get a second chance. He has been replaced by Sitaram Varma.

Vinod Singh, a former minister during the Mayawati government, has been given a BJP ticket from Sultanpur.