The Bahujan Samaj Party on Tuesday declared the names of 82 candidates for the first phase of the assembly elections in Gujarat.
The party has declared that it would fight all the 182 assembly constituencies on its own, and will announce on Wednesday the names of the candidates for the remaining five seats for the first phase poll.
Elections will be held in 87 constituencies in the first phase on December 11 and on remaining 95 on December 16.
The party candidates for the 95 seats were likely to be announced by the end of the month.
Of the 82 candidates for the first phase of elections to be held in Saurashtra, Kutch and South Gujarat regions, 12 were upper castes (six Brahmins, four Kshatriyas, two Vaishyas), seven Muslims, eight Scheduled Castes, 17 Scheduled Tribes and 38 Other Backward Classes, BSP general secretary Gandhi Azad told reporters in Ahmedabad.
Asked the main issue on which the BSP will seek votes from the people, Azad said society in Gujarat was divided on communal lines. The BSP stood for unity and communal harmony, he added.
Queried on the issues that were likely to feature on the BSP's manifesto, he said, "We do not believe in manifestos because for most of the political parties they are just hollow promises to be made at the time of elections."
BSP supremo and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati will campaign for eight days in Gujarat from the first week of December, Azad stated.
Before deciding to contest the assembly elections in Gujarat, the BSP had organised a massive rally in Vadodara recently.
Addressing the rally, Mayawati had said she was hopeful of her party doing well in the Gujarat assembly elections and had also from the same platform demanded reservations for the economically poor in the upper castes.
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