LUCKNOW: Bahujan Samaj Party president Mayawati on Tuesday released the list of party candidates for the coming Uttar Pradesh polls. Going by the list, Ms. Mayawati seems to have favoured the Brahmin-Dalit combination again.

Of the 403 seats, 139 have been given to candidates from the upper castes. Brahmin candidates have been fielded in 86 seats, Thakurs in 38 and Vaishyas in 14, while one seat has been allotted to a Kayastha candidate.

Nominees from the Other Backward Classes (OBC) have been fielded in 110 constituencies, and Dalits in 93. Though there are 89 reserved seats, Scheduled Caste candidates have been fielded in four general category seats.

Muslim candidates have been given 61 seats as compared to 85 in 2002. Barring seven MLAs, the rest have been given ticket again.

Ms. Mayawati declared that she would not contest the elections. Like in 2002, she seems to have reposed faith in the upper castes, chiefly the Brahmins who she has been assiduously wooing for the last couple of years. Simultaneously, she also wooed the Vaishyas by holding several conferences in 2005 and 2006. Though only six seats were given to members of the community in 2002, 14 candidates have been given ticket.

The share of the OBCs has declined from 122 in 2002 to 110 now. Similar is the case with Muslims. As compared to 85 nominees in 2002, only 61 have got the nod this time round.

Ms. Mayawati has been moving away from the conventional Dalit-Muslim combination of the party since 2002, when she allotted ticket to 92 upper caste candidates.

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