Lucknow, April 10 (IANS): Ten Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh are proving to be a challenge for the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) which has changed candidates here.

The sitting MPs on most of the 10 seats that the BSP had won in 2019, have either been expelled or have moved to greener pastures.

The BSP has announced new candidates on these seats who are facing opposition from the cadres.

For instance, in Lalganj, sitting BSP MP Sangeeta Azad has moved to BJP which has nominated Neelam Sonkar as its candidate on the seat. Sangeeta Azad and her supporters are working for Sonkar while the BSP candidate Indu Chaudhary is facing a dearth of workers.

In Nagina, the BSP has shifted its sitting MP Girish Chandra Jatav to Bulandshahr. Jatav is the only sitting BSP MP who has been given a ticket. In Nagina, the BSP candidate is Surendra Pal Singh who is being challenged by Chandra Shekhar of Azad Samaj Party on one hand and, on the other, by Manoj Kumar of SP and Om Kumar of BJP.

The sitting BSP MP from Amroha, Danish Ali, has joined the Congress and is contesting the seat on the Congress symbol. The BSP has put up Mujahid Hussain. The strongest challenge is coming from BJP’s Kanwar Singh Tanwar.

In Ambedkar Nagar, the sitting BSP MP Ritesh Pandey has joined the BJP and is their candidate for the seat. His father Rakesh Pandey, a SP MLA, has also switched over to the BJP. The BSP has named Kalam Shah as its candidate while SP has named Lalji Varma as its candidate. Varma is a former BSP leader.

The BSP, therefore, is facing a challenge from its two former leaders on this seat.

In Bijnor, the BSP has replaced its sitting MP Malook Nagar with Vijendra Chaudhary whose acceptability among the cadres is lacking. Malook Nagar’s loyalty is doubtful since he created a stir by praising the Union Budget of the Modi government.

Other contestants here are Chandan Singh of RLD and Deepak Saini of SP.

The sitting BSP MP from Shravasti, Ram Shiromani Varma has already been expelled from the party. The BSP and SP are both scouting for a suitable candidate for this seat. The BJP has fielded Saket Mishra who is already leading with his campaign.

The Saharanpur BSP MP Haji Fazlur-Rehman has also been suspended from the party. The BSP candidate for the 2024 poll is Majid Ali and he is pitted against Imran Masood of Congress. The BJP candidate is Raghav Lakhanpal.

The BSP MP from Ghazipur, Afzal Ansari is now the SP candidate in the same seat. The BSP is searching for a strong candidate to take on Ansari while the BJP has also not announced its candidate for the seat.

An interesting situation can be seen in Jaunpur where the sitting BSP MP Shyam Singh Yadav has been frequently seen in Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra. The BJP has fielded former Maharashtra Congress minister Kripa Shankar Singh. Ashok Singh, a former BSP leader, is already contesting as an independent while former BSP MP Dhanajay Singh is in jail, waiting for some reprieve from the Allahabad High Court. The BSP has yet to name its candidate.

The sitting BSP MP in Ghosi, Atul Rai spent most of his tenure in jail instead of the Parliament and has been dropped as a candidate for the 2024 polls. The BSP has nominated Balkrishna Chauhan as its candidate in Ghosi.

The seat is being contested by Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) candidate Arvind Rajbhar and SP has named Rajiv Rai as its candidate.