Agencies
New Delhi, January 18:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Tuesday interact with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers of Varanasi, in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh. The interaction will take place virtually since the Election Commission of India (ECI) has suspended all physical rallies till January 22 due to the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic.
According to the schedule posted by Uttar Pradesh unit of the BJP on Twitter, the virtually interaction will begin at 11am.
This will be the Prime Minister’s first interaction with the party workers after the Election Commission announced the schedule of assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh last week.
He is expected to direct the BJP workers to tell people about the welfare schemes implemented by the party in the state.
While the BJP is eyeing a return to power for a second consecutive term in Uttar Pradesh, challengers like the Samajwadi Party (SP) have vowed to stop its poll juggernaut. The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Congress are also in the fray and released their respective list of candidates for the upcoming polls to take on the BJP.
While the SP has announced an alliance with Jayant Chaudhary’s Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) and other smaller outfits, the Congress and BSP are fighting the elections alone.
The BJP has deployed its senior leaders, including PM Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah, for election campaign. Both the leaders have made numerous visits to the poll-bound state in recent months to give a boost to the party’s campaign.
Shah last week chaired meetings of the BJP’s core committee to finalise candidate list and seat-sharing arrangement with allies like the Apna Dal and the NISHAD party. On Saturday, the BJP released the list of candidates for 57 out of 58 seats in the first phase and for 48 out of 55 in the second phase. It has fielded chief minister Yogi Adityanath from Gorakhpur.
Shah is expected to hit the campaign trail again after January 23 and hold a series of meetings at various places adhering to the Model Code of Conduct laid down by the Election Commission of India in view of the rising Covid-19 cases in the country.
Elections for the 403 Assembly constituencies in Uttar Pradesh will be held in seven phases starting February 10. The polls in the State will be held on February 10, 14, 20, 23, 27 and March 3 and 7 in seven phases. The counting of votes will take place on March 10.
