UP Assembly polls: Here're the strategies and prospects of the main actors

Voting in Uttar Pradesh will be held in 403 Assembly seats over seven phases from February 10 to March 7

A spate of resignations from the Yogi Adityanath government and the defection of the lawmakers to the Samajwadi Party (SP) have given rise to speculation that the BJP might now have to rejig its plans of replacing unpopular MLAs, especially those from the Other Backward Classes (OBCs).

Enquiries with top BJP leaders suggest the party will likely stick to its earlier plan of dropping around 20 per cent of the sitting MLAs but this might no longer apply to the OBC MLAs.

A top party functionary said: “The party replaces such sitting candidates who don’t fit into their constituencies’ caste composition on