At least eight of the nine MLAs who quit the Bharatiya Janata Party in a flurry of resignations over the past few days are expected to join the Samajwadi Party (SP) Friday in the presence of Akhilesh Yadav, sources have said.

On Thursday, Minister for Ayush, Dharam Singh Saini, MLAs Mukesh Verma and Awasthi Bala Prasad resigned from BJP, saying the government had not worked for the marginalised communities in the last five years. Saini’s resignation was the third by a BJP minister in three days – Swami Prasad Maurya quit Tuesday and was followed by Dara Singh Chauhan the next day.

The BJP, meanwhile, is said to have finalised its candidates for 172 assembly seats in the state, following a meeting on Thursday, and is expected to release the list in the next few days, news agency PTI reported. According to the news agency, CM Yogi Adityanath is likely to be fielded from Ayodhya while Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya will contest from Sirathu constituency.

In other news, the Election Commission will issue the notification for the first phase of the UP polls today. The last date of filing nominations for the first phase is January 21 (Friday).

In Punjab, the first list of Congress candidates for the Assembly polls has been delayed as differences over finalised names came to the fore Thursday during a virtual meeting of the central election committee (CEC). Sources said the party chief Sonia Gandhi told former state unit chief  Sunil Jakhar that “this is not the platform to raise the issues and asked them to come with a final list on Friday.”

Complete News Source : The Indian Express