New Delhi: Uttar Pradesh chief minister Adityanath will contest from Gorakhpur (Urban) seat, his stronghold, in the upcoming assembly elections putting to rest all speculation that he may contest from Ayodhya or Mathura, one of two temple towns.Although Adityanath had said that he would be happy to contest from any seat the party wanted him to contest from, it is now emerging that he is believed to have expressed his inclination to fight from Gorakhpur, from where he made it to Lok Sabha five times, rather than switching to a new constituency, NDTV said, attributing it to sources.“Yogiji said ‘I will contest from any seat party asks me to’… This was the party’s decision. The decision has been made after much deliberation… the final decision (was taken) by the top leadership of the party,” Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan said after the BJP released its first list of candidates for Uttar Pradesh elections on Saturday.In response, Adityanath told ANI, “I am thankful to PM Modi, BJP chief JP Nadda, (and the) Central Parliamentary Committee for fielding me from Gorakhpur. BJP works on the model of ‘sabka saath, sabka vikas‘… BJP will form the government with full majority.”The Gorakhpur (Urban) seat will go to the polls in the sixth phase of elections on March 3. Uttar Pradesh will be voting to elect its 403-member assembly in seven phases, starting from February 10 to March 7The BJP had initially felt that fielding Adityanath from any of the temple seats of Ayodhya or Mathura would help the party consolidate its Hindu vote at a time when the party is losing a lot of its base in the eastern part of the state, as evidenced by recent defections to Samajwadi Party. Adityanath had never fought an assembly election before.Meanwhile, Yogi’s deputy, Keshav Prasad Maurya, will contest from Sirathu in Prayagraj.On Saturday, January 15, the BJP announced candidates for 107 seats, retaining 63 of 83 MLAs, and dropped 20 sitting legislators. There are 10 women candidates in the first list.
