Lucknow: The BJP on Friday released a list of 91 candidates for the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls, giving tickets to 13 ministers and repeating its sitting MLA in Ayodhya.
The party dropped Co-Operative Affairs Minister Mukut Bihari Verma, whose son Gaurav will be contesting from his Kaiserganj seat in Bahraich. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's media adviser Shalabh Mani Tripathi has been fielded from Deoria.
The BJP repeated its sitting MLA from Ayodhya, Ved Prakash Gupta. Earlier, speculations were doing rounds that Adityanath may be contesting from Ayodhya but the BJP decided to field him from Gorakhpur Urban Assembly constituency. Gupta will again face Samajwadi Party's Tej Narayan, alias Pawan Pandey, whom he had defeated in the 2017 Assembly elections.
Ayodhya will go to the polls in the fifth phase of the elections on February 27.
The list cleared by the BJP's central election committee has names of 13 ministers.
The ministers who have been fielded include Siddharth Nath Singh, who will contest from Allahabad West, and Nand Gopal Gupta 'Nandi', who will be in the fray from Allahabad South.
Agriculture Minister Surya Pratap Shahi has also found a place in the list and he will contest from Pathardeva.