Of the nine candidates announced by the BJP in its 10th list, seven are from UP (File)
The BJP on Wednesday announced its 10th list of candidates for the Lok Sabha elections, pitting Uttar Pradesh Minister Jaiveer Singh Thakur against Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav's wife Dimple Yadav from Mainpuri.
Of the nine candidates announced by the BJP in its 10th list, seven are from Uttar Pradesh.
In Ballia, it has fielded Neeraj Shekhar, the son of former prime minister Chandrashekhar. Shekhar has been fielded in place of four-term MP Virendra Singh Mast.
In Allahabad, the party denied a ticket to incumbent MP Rita Bahuguna Joshi and announced Neeraj Tripathi as its nominee.
A lawyer, Mr Tripathi is the son of former Uttar Pradesh Assembly speaker and West Bengal ex-governor Kesari Nath Tripathi.
BP Saroj, the incumbent MP from Machhlishahr (SC), has been retained. The BJP has also renominated Vinod Sonkar from Kaushambi (SC).
Paras Nath Rai will contest on a BJP ticket from Ghazipur, where current Jammu and Kashmir Lt Governor Manoj Sinha lost to the Bahujan Samaj Party's (BSP) Afzal Ansari in 2019.
Afzal Ansari -- the brother of gangster-politician Mukhtar Ansari, who died recently -- is the Samajwadi Party candidate from Ghazipur.
Mr Rai, whose son Ashutosh Rai was the state unit chief of the Bhartiya Janata Yuva Morcha, is considered close to Sinha and runs an education institute in Ghazipur.
From Phulpur, the BJP has fielded Praveen Patel.
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