BJP MP SC Gupta crosses over to SP, to contest from Banda

BJP's sitting MP from Allahabad, Shyam Charan Gupta, has been named by the Samajwadi Party to contest on its ticket from Banda.

An SP release on Saturday said that Gupta will be its candidate from Banda Lok Sabha seat, just hours before the BJP was expected to announce its first list of candidates.

Gupta had won from Banda on an SP ticket in 2004. He lost in 2009 in Phulpur before he crossed over to the BJP and won from Allahabad - now Prayagraj - in 2014


Reports said Gupta was upset over indications that the Bharatiya Janata Party would deny him a ticket from the Prayagraj constituency.

The SP has so far announced the names of 17 candidates of its quota of 37 seats following its alliance with the BSP.
The party had Friday declared five candidates for the Lok Sabha polls, which included sitting MP Tabassum Hasan from Kairana and Surendra Kumar alias Munni Sharma from Ghaziabad seat.

Of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in the state, the SP will contest in 37 and the BSP in 38, leaving three for the Ajit Singh-led Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD).