Lucknow, Aug. 25 -- Samajwadi Party rebels and Bharatiya Janata Party loyalists are lobbying for the BJP ticket for seven assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh where elections are due early next year. Won by the Samajwadi Party in 2022, these seats are: Gauriganj in Amethi, Goshaiganj in Ayodhya, Bisauli in Badaun, Kalpi in Jalaun, Jalalpur in Ambedkar Nagar, Unchahar in Rae Bareli and Chail in Kaushambi district. The SP rebels defected in support of the BJP in the 2024 Rajya Sabha election. Recently, Rakesh Pratap Singh, who won the Gauriganj assembly seat in Amethi district on the Samajwadi Party ticket, and Abhay Singh, who bagged the Goshainganj seat in Ayodhya district as the SP candidate, met Union home minister Amit Shah in Delhi. Former Goshaiganj MLA Indra Pratap Tiwari, also known as Khabbu Tiwari, is also lobbying hard for the party ticket, according to sources. In the 2017 assembly election, Tiwari won the seat for the BJP, defeating Abhay Singh of the SP. In 2022, Tiwari's wife Arti Tiwari was runner-up while Abhay Singh won the seat as the SP nominee. Tiwari had played a crucial role in mobilising Brahmin support during the Milkipur assembly bypoll held in February 2025, months after SP leader Awadhesh Prasad vacated the seat on winning the Faizabad Lok Sabha seat in 2024. The BJP's Chandrabhanu Paswan won the by-poll, defeating the SP's Ajit Prasad, Awadhesh Prasad's son, by 61,710 votes. "The BJP can hardly ignore Tiwari's claim, as doing so could adversely impact Brahmin voters in Ayodhya and Ambedkar Nagar districts. Tiwari might be adjusted to another assembly seat," a BJP leader said. Gauriganj sitting MLA Rakesh Pratap Singh's cross-voted for the BJP in the 2024 Rajya Sabha elections and was subsequently expelled from the Samajwadi Party. Now, Singh is aspiring for a BJP ticket, for which former MLA Chandra Prakash Mishra alias Matiyari is also a claimant. Mishra lost to Singh in the 2022 assembly election. The Brahmin factor has come into play here too. If the BJP gives the ticket to Singh, they will have to adjust Mishra elsewhere or offer him a seat in the Uttar Pradesh legislative council. Similarly, SP rebel Ashutosh Maurya is staking claim to Badaun district's Bisauli assembly constituency. Kushagra Sagar, the BJP winner in 2017 and the runner-up in a closely contested 2022 election, is also a prominent claimant. He is the son of former MLA Yogendra Sagar. For Jalaun's Kalpi seat, SP rebel Vinod Chaturvedi and Chhote Singh, the Nishad party candidate in 2022, are in the race for the BJP ticket. Chaturvedi had defeated Singh by 2,800 votes in 2022. In 2017, the BJP's Narendra Pal Singh won the seat. SP rebel Rakesh Pandey is the sitting MLA from Jalalpur in Ambedkar Nagar. Former SP MLA Subash Chandra Rai, who contested the 2022 assembly election on the BJP ticket and Rajesh Singh, the BSP's 2022 nominee are vying for the BJP ticket in the 2027 polls. Rai had won the seat on SP ticket in a 2019 bypoll while Singh contested the 2017 assembly election on the BJP ticket. Though Rakesh Pandey was absent from chief minister Yogi Adityanath's recent public meeting in Ambedkar Nagar, his son Ritesh Pandey, who won the seat for the Bahujan Samaj Party in 2017, was present. Ritesh may stake claim to the BJP ticket, sources said. The BJP is likely to field another SP rebel Manoj Kumar Pandey, the food and civil supplies minister in the BJP led NDA government, from his Unchahar seat in Rae Bareli district. Pandey won the seat in 2022, defeating the BJP's Amarpal Maurya by over 6,000 votes. After sending Maurya to Rajya Sabha, the BJP appointed him as national president of its OBC Morcha. SP rebel Pooja Pal, who won the Chail seat in 2022, is also a contender for the BJP ticket in 2027. She was inducted into the Uttar Pradesh BJP state executive as state vice-president in June 2026. Pal enjoys influence over the OBC community in Prayagraj and Kaushambi districts. She won the 2022 assembly election, defeating Apna Dal (S) candidate Nagendra Pratap Singh Patel by over 13,000 votes....