By IANS,
Lucknow : The Ulema Council in Uttar Pradesh Wednesday released the first list of its five candidates for the Lok Sabha polls.
“The list comprises our Lok Sabha nominees for the Azamgarh, Lalganj, Jaunpur, Machlishehar and Lucknow parliamentary constituencies in Uttar Pradesh,” Maulana Amir Rashadi Madni, convener of the Ulema Council, told IANS by telephone from Azamgarh.
Of the five candidates, of a historian Amaresh Mishra, was already announced by the council during a rally in Lucknow Feb 20.
Mishra has been nominated from Lucknow and Javed Akhtar, a surgeon, from Azamgarh. Chandraram Saroj alias Chandu will contest from Lalganj, Tasleem Ahmad from Jaunpur and Sohan Ram, an advocate, from Machlishehar.
The Ulema Council said the outfit would contest the elections “independently”.
“We will contest the elections on our own and are confident of winning them too. We do not need any support. We know how to fight for our rights� We have been doing it for the last several years,” said Madni.
He alleged that the major political outfits had failed to safeguard the interests of the minorities in the state.
Even as the members of the Ulema Council did not disclose the total number of candidates it will field from Uttar Pradesh for the polls, they said in the next two-three days they would release another list of the nominees.
“Next list will have our candidates, who will contest from 10 other Lok Sabha seats, including Rae Bareli, Amethi, Hardoi and Gorakhpur,” said Madni.