BJP drops Brij Bhushan Singh amid sexual harassment allegations, fields his son from UP's Kaiserganj
Kaiserganj (Uttar Pradesh): Ending all speculation surrounding the Kaiserganj seat in Uttar Pradesh, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) announced on Thursday that Karan Bhushan Singh, son of former Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, will be its candidate for the Lok Sabha elections from that constituency.
BJP's Brij Bhushan Singh, a three-time MP from the seat, currently represents the state but was not been given the ticket this time.
The seat had been under scrutiny by the BJP after Brij Bhushan was accused of sexual harassment of female wrestlers, leading to protests by athletes such as Sakshi Malik, Bajrang Punia, and Vinesh Phogat.
The Delhi Police filed a chargesheet in connection with the case against the former WFI chief in June last year.
Meanwhile, the BJP announced Dinesh Pratap Singh as its candidate from the Rae Bareli constituency.
Singh previously contested the polls from the same seat against Sonia Gandhi in 2019, and the BJP has expressed confidence in him.
The Rae Bareli seat has long been a stronghold of the Gandhi family. Congress' former chairperson Sonia Gandhi retained the seat in 2019. However, she will not contest this time as she has been nominated to the Rajya Sabha from Rajasthan.
Meanwhile, suspense looms over Amethi and Rae Bareli, two Congress strongholds, as Congress has yet to announce its candidates for both seats.
In the 2019 elections, BJP's Smriti Irani ended Congress' tenure from Amethi by defeating Rahul Gandhi.
While BJP has announced candidates for most seats in UP, the announcement for the Kaiserganj constituency was pending.
Both Kaiserganj and Rae Bareli are scheduled to vote on May 20 in the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha elections.
In the 2019 election, Brij Bhushan defeated BSP's Chandradev Ram Yadav by a margin of over 2.5 lakh votes.
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