BJP releases list of 40 star campaigners for by-polls in UP

NEW DELHI: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has released a list of star campaigners for the by-polls in Uttar Pradesh scheduled to be held on December 5.

The by-polls will be held in the Mainpuri Parliamentary constituency, Khatauli and Rampur Assembly constituencies.

The party released a list of 40-star campaigners for the polls which include Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Deputy Chief Ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brijesh Pathak among others who have been given the responsibility for the party's campaign in the poll-bound constituencies.

However, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will not be a part of the campaign. State Minister Baby Rani Maurya, former Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, and BJP MP Harnath Singh Yadav also feature in the list.

The BJP has fielded Raghuraj Singh Shakya from the Mainpuri Parliamentary constituency against Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Dimple Yadav.

The election on the seat was mandated after the seat fell vacant following the demise of SP veteran and former chief minister of the state Mulayam Singh Yadav on October 10.

Rajkumari Saini and Akash Saxena have been nominated for the by-polls from the Khatauli and Rampur Assembly constituencies respectively.

The Rampur seat fell vacant after SP leader Azam Khan was disqualified from the Assembly in a hate speech case. He was sentenced to three years in prison.

The by-polls in the Khatauli were necessitated following the conviction of the BJP MLA Vikram Singh in a case related to the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots in which he was handed down a two-year jail term.

The elections will take place on December 5, and the counting of votes will be done on December 8.