LS election 2014: Mayawati declares all 80 UP candidates

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) president Mayawati today released the list of Lok Sabha poll 2014 candidates from all the 80 constituencies in Uttar Pradesh.

The party has tried to balance the caste equation in the state by giving representation to all the sections of society.

The party has fielded 17 Scheduled Caste (SC) candidates from the reserved parliamentary constituencies, while the number of Other Backward Caste (OBC) and Muslim candidates is 15 and 19 respectively.

The upper caste candidates have been given 29 nominations, including 21 and 8 for Brahmin and Kshatriya candidates respectively. The total number of women candidates stand at 7 seats.

UP is a highly fragmented demography spread over 75 districts and distinct geographical regions, namely Purvanchal (eastern UP), Bundelkhand, Awadh (central) and western UP.

Announcing this at a packed news conference here, Mayawati said the party had decided to fight the poll on its own. Going forward, BSP would announce candidates from the parliamentary constituencies in other states as well.

The coming election would be a fight between two ideologies of secularism and communalism, she noted.

"The candidature of BJP prime ministerial nominee Narendra Modi from Varanasi was aimed at stoking communal forces, but BSP would not let BJP and National Democratic Alliance (NDA) ride to power," she underlined.

She also smelt a conspiracy in Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Mulayam Singh Yadav selecting Azamgarh to fight the poll.

"It is a well crafted design by BJP and SP to polarise the electorate between Hindus and Muslims," Mayawati cautioned.

She further urged Election Commission to keep vigil on BJP and SP as the two parties could vitiate the peaceful election process for electoral gains.

Replying to a question, Mayawati said the BSP would decide on post-poll alliance depending upon the election results. "We would be willing to ally with secular parties after polls if the 'balance of power' is in our favour."