Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath will contest from Gorakhpur and not Ayodhya as was being widely speculated. His deputy Keshav Prasad Maurya will contest from the Sirathu seat in the Allahabad district.
Adityanath had represented Gorakhpur parliamentary seat on five occasions before he became Uttar Pradesh chief minister.
Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, said, “Honourable Yogi ji is our chief minister. He will contest from Gorakhpur Urban.”
There were speculations that Adityanath will try his luck from Ayodhya, the place where Ram temple is being built on site of the Babri Masjid. The historic mosque was demolished by Hindutva terrorists on 6 December 1992.
Addressing a press conference with Shri @ArunSinghbjp at BJP HQ. https://t.co/ypTiDUWiuH
— Dharmendra Pradhan (@dpradhanbjp) January 15, 2022
Uttar Pradesh goes to polls in seven phases with the voting in Gorakhpur Urban assembly seat scheduled to take place in the sixth phase on 3 March.
Taking a dig at Adityanath choosing to contest from his home seat, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said, “I like that the BJP has already sent him (the Chief Minister) to Gorakhpur.”
“Yogi should stay there… there is no need for him to come from there,” NDTV quoted the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister as saying.
The counting of votes will take place on 10 March.