Samajwadi Party rebels and Bharatiya Janata Party loyalists are lobbying for the BJP ticket for seven assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh where elections are due early next year.
Won by the Samajwadi Party in 2022, these seats are: Gauriganj in Amethi, Goshaiganj in Ayodhya, Bisauli in Badaun, Kalpi in Jalaun, Jalalpur in Ambedkar Nagar, Unchahar in Rae Bareli and Chail in Kaushambi district. The SP rebels defected in support of the BJP in the 2024 Rajya Sabha election. Recently, Rakesh Pratap Singh, who won the Gauriganj assembly seat in Amethi district on the Samajwadi Party ticket, and Abhay Singh, who bagged the Goshainganj seat in Ayodhya district as the SP candidate, met Union home minister Amit Shah in Delhi.
In the 2017 assembly election, Tiwari won the seat for the BJP, defeating Abhay Singh of the SP. In 2022, Tiwari’s wife Arti Tiwari was runner-up while Abhay Singh won the seat as the SP nominee.
Former Goshaiganj MLA Indra Pratap Tiwari, also known as Khabbu Tiwari, is also lobbying hard for the party ticket, according to sources.
Though Rakesh Pandey was absent from chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s recent public meeting in Ambedkar Nagar, his son Ritesh Pandey, who won the seat for the Bahujan Samaj Party in 2017, was present. She was inducted into the Uttar Pradesh BJP state executive as state vice-president in June 2026. She won the 2022 assembly election, defeating Apna Dal (S) candidate Nagendra Pratap Singh Patel by over 13,000 votes.
“The BJP can hardly ignore Tiwari’s claim, as doing so could adversely impact Brahmin voters in Ayodhya and Ambedkar Nagar districts. Pal enjoys influence over the OBC community in Prayagraj and Kaushambi districts.
Tiwari might be adjusted to another assembly seat,” a BJP leader said. Ritesh may stake claim to the BJP ticket, sources said.
