BJP unveils 15-member election panel for UP polls

The Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday announced its 15-member election committee headed by Uttar Pradesh party unit chief Surya Pratap Shahi for the assembly polls scheduled to be held next year.

The committee has five former state unit presidents including Kalraj Misra, Vinay Katiyar, Kesari Nath Tripathi, Om Prakash Singh and Ramapati Ram Tripathi, Shahi told reporters.

Member of Parliament Lalji Tandon, senior leaders Hukum Singh, Rakesh Jain, Nepal Singh, Madhu Misra, Ramapati Shastri, Rajesh Agarwal, Shiv Pratap Shukla and Swatantra Dev Singh would also be in the committee, he said.

Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Santosh Gangawar, Ashok Pradhan and Varun Gandhi would be special invitees.

The committee for election management cell has also been set up with Shyam Nandan Singh as its coordinator, he said, adding that Prashant Arora, Ramapati Ram Tripathi, Dinesh Sharma, Rajendra Tripathi and Ram Kumar Shukla would be its members.

Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi would coordinate for the central unit, he said.

Evading a direct reply about the absence of the names of senior leaders Rajnath Singh and Murli Manohar Joshi in the list, he said that both are members of the party's central parliamentary board.

On Uma Bharti's name missing from the list, the BJP state chief said she will have a leading role in the election campaign.