BJP announces candidates, Bhojpuri actor Nirahua gets another shot at Azamgarh 

BJP also named its nominees for seven Assembly seats in Tripura, Andhra Pradesh, Delhi and Jharkhand.

The BJP has given Bhojpuri actor Dinesh Lal Yadav, popularly known as Nirahua, another shot at the Azamgarh Lok Sabha seat as the party on Saturday named him as its candidate for the upcoming by-poll election.

Along with candidates for the Lok Sabha by-poll election in Azamgarh and Rampur, the BJP also named its nominees for seven Assembly seats in Tripura, Andhra Pradesh, Delhi and Jharkhand.

The by-poll in Uttar Pradesh’s Azamgarh and Rampur were necessitated after the incumbent MPs Akhilesh Yadav and Azam Khan, respectively, contested and won in the recent Assembly election. While Mr. Yadav was elected from Karhal in Mainpuri, Mr. Khan, who was recently released from jail, is the current MLA from his traditional Rampur Sadar seat.

In 2019 Lok Sabha election, Mr. Dinesh Lal Yadav, actor-turned-politician, had stood runner-up against the Samajwadi Party president. While the SP is yet to officially declare its candidate, the BSP was the first to announce the name of its candidate - Shah Alam alias Guddu Jamali, a former MLA from Mubarakpur seat in Azamgarh.

In Rampur, too, the SP is yet to officially name a candidate. The BSP has decided it will not contest in Rampur.

Meanwhile, the BJP has fielded Ghanshyam Singh Lodhi in Rampur. Mr. Lodhi, former SP MLC, joined the BJP in January accusing the SP of being anti-OBC and anti-Dalit. Mr. Lodhi has contested the Lok Sabha election on BSP ticket in the past though unsuccessfully. 

Both the BJP candidates in UP are from OBC communities.