BSP list names Danish Ali from Amroha

Lucknow, March 22 (IANS) With less than a month to go for the Lok Sabha elections, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) on Friday announced its candidates for 11 Lok Sabha constituencies in Uttar Pradesh, including Danish Ali who joined the party leaving the Janata Dal-Secular.

Ali, who joined the BSP on March 16 has been named the BSP candidate from Amroha.

After Ali joined the BSP, Karnataka Chief Minister and JD-S leader H.D. Kumaraswamy said that he joined the BSP with the party's consent.

"Ali joined the BSP in consent with me and our national President H.D. Deve Gowda in a purely political arrangement between the two parties. It is a thoughtful political decision taken by the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) and the BSP to win more seats in the Lok Sabha elections," Kumaraswamy had tweeted last Saturday.

The BSP, which is contesting the elections in alliance with the Samajwadi Party and the Rashtriya Lok Dal, has fielded three Muslim leaders.

It has named Haji Fajalurahman from Saharanpur, Malook Nagar from Bijnor and Girish Chandra from Nagina (SC) parliamentary constituency.

The BSP has fielded Haji Mohammad Yakub from Meerut, Satbir Nagar from Gautam Budh Nagar and Yogesh Verma from Bulandsahr (SC) seat.

The BSP, which is contesting on 38 seats, has named Ajit Baliyan from Aligarh, Manoj Kumar Soni from Agra (SC), Rajvir Singh from Fatehpur and Ruchi Veera from Aonla.

The seats for which candidates have been announced will go to the polls in the first, second and third phase of the elections on April 11, 18 and 23, respectively.

The BSP did not win a single Lok Sabha seat in 2014.

The seven-phase elections are scheduled from April 11 to May 19. The counting of votes will take place on May 23.