BJP names new candidate for Kairana, the seat it lost last year

The BJP Saturday declared names of three more Lok Sabha candidates for Uttar Pradesh, including from Kairana where the party lost face in a crucial bypoll last year.

The party did not give the ticket to Mriganka Singh, who lost the Lok Sabha bye-elections for Kairana in May last year to a joint opposition nominee.

Instead, the Bharatiya Janata Party has nominated Pradeep Chaudhary, a two-time MLA.

"Pradeep Chaudhary is the sitting BJP MLA from Gangoh assembly constituency, which falls in Saharanpur district but comes under the Kairana parliamentary constituency," UP BJP general secretary Vijay Bahadur Pathak told PTI.

The BJP renominated Bhola Singh from Bulandshahr (SC) constituency and Yashwant Singh from Nagina (SC) seat. They currently hold the two seats.

Mriganka Singh, who has been denied a ticket, is the daughter of Hukam Singh, the BJP MP whose death led to the Kairana bypoll.

She was defeated by Tabassum Hasan who fought on the Rashtriya Lok Dal ticket, backed by the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party.

The opposition projected the Kairana victory as a sign that it could take on the BJP in the general election if it fielded common candidates.