Lucknow: Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday said the BJP’s first list of candidates for the Lok Sabha polls shows that the party has accepted defeat as it has retained several sitting MPs fearing rebellion.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday released its first list of 195 candidates out of which 51 are from Uttar Pradesh, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Varanasi.

In a post in Hindi on X, the SP chief said, “The first BJP list has the candidates for those 195 seats where the party thinks it has a slight possibility of winning. It is clear that on the remaining seats, they have no chance.” “BJP has accepted defeat in the first list itself because due to the fear of rebellion, it has renominated those people who were not expecting to get a ticket because of not getting any work done in their parliamentary constituencies or due to their involvement in corruption.

“Those who wanted to pack their bags and leave are being asked to fight again by putting pressure on them. How will these people face the opposition?” Yadav said.

The SP chief alleged that there was a “deep disappointment” among the BJP workers as they know that the winds of change are blowing and their sitting MP is going to lose.

“Young leaders who supported the wrong policies of the BJP in the hope of getting a ticket will also be disheartened. The BJP’s first list is a declaration of the party’s hopelessness,” Yadav added.

The Election Commission is expected to announce the poll schedule later this month and the elections are likely to be held in April-May.

The BJP had won 303 seats in 2019 polls but currently, it has 290 members in Lok Sabha, the number decreasing for various reasons including due to some MPs recently resigning after winning assembly polls.