BJP
BJP members celebrate the party's victory in the UP Assembly elections.Twitter/BJP Uttar Pradesh

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has announced that spiritual guru Yogi Adityanath will be the next chief minister of Uttar Pradesh. Keshav Prasad Murya and Dinesh Sharma have been named the deputy chief ministers of the state. Adityanath, Maurya and Sharma will address the media on Sunday.

Also read: UP BJP president Keshav Prasad Maurya admitted to the ICU ward of RML Hospital in Delhi

Information and Broadcasting Minister Venkaiah Naidu told the media that the idea of having two deputy chief ministers in the state was given by Adityanath since Uttar Pradesh is a big state. The oath-taking ceremony will take place at 2:15 pm at the Smriti Upvan in Lucknow on Sunday. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP National president Amit Shah and other senior leaders of the saffron party are expected to attend the ceremony. A few chief minister sof other states have also been invited to attend the oath-taking ceremony.

Also read: Picking Yogi Adityanath as UP CM: How BJP ruined all the good work it did last week

The 312 newly-elected MLAs of the BJP held a meeting at the Lok Bhawan in Lucknow to decide on who would be the next chief minister of Uttar Pradesh and also the leader of the legislature party. The meeting, which was supposed to begin at 5 pm on Saturday, began almost half an hour late and was overseen by Naidu and senior BJP leader Bhupendra Yadav. The BJP has come back to power in Uttar Pradesh after a gap of 15 years.

Here are all the live updates:

7:24 pm IST: Press conference ends. Adityanath, surprisingly, did not address the media.

7:19 pm IST: The oath-taking ceremony will be held at the 2:15 pm on Sunday in Lucknow

7:16 pm IST: "The party parliamentary board sent me and Bhupendra Yadav as observers. We spoke to all the MLAs about their choice," Naidu told the media adding that Adityanath suggested the idea of having two deputy CMs since UP is a big state.

7:14 pm IST: Venkaiah Naidu is currently addressing the media.

7:10 pm IST: Adityanath to address the media shortly

7:09 pm IST: "UP is a big state that's why two deputy CMs chosen. Yogi Adityanath was the first choice for BJP," Sangeet Som was quoted by News18 as saying.

6:57 pm IST: Madhya pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan congratulates Adityanath on being named the next CM of Uttar Pradesh.

6:53 pm IST: Keshav Prasad Maurya and Dinesh Sharma have officially been named as the deputy chief ministers of Uttar Pradesh.

6:49 pm IST: Adityanath will take oath as the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh on Sunday

6:45 pm IST: Yogi Adityanath has been chosen as the legislature leader of the BJP

6:32 pm IST: According to media reports, Keshav Prasad Maurya and Dinesh Sharma have been named as the deputy chief ministers of Uttar Pradesh.

6:24 pm IST: ANI has clarified that the information is based on souces and that no official confirmation has been made by the BJP about Adityanath being named as the CM-Designate of the state.

6:15 pm IST: The oath-taking ceremony of the Chief Minister-Designate of Uttar Pradesh will take place at the Smriti Upvan in Lucknow on Sunday

6:10 pm IST: Yogi Adityanath is five-time MP from the Gorakhpur constituency of Uttar Pradesh. He is the founder of Hindu Yuva Vahini.

6:04 pm IST: Yogi Adityanath will be the next Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. BJP has announced his name as the CM-Designate for that state, ANI reported.

6 pm IST: Sources told ANI that slogans in favour of Adityanath are being raised at the meeting. The spiritual guru's name for the chief minister's post and Dinesh Sharma's name for the deputy CMs post is being discussed.

5:45 pm IST: Speculations are rife that the state will have two deputy chief ministers.

5:31 pm IST: Yogi Adiyanath is also present at the BJP legislature party meeting, which got delayed by almost half an hour.

5:30 pm IST: Leaders arrive for the BJP legislature party meeting

5:23 pm IST: BJP Leaders Yogi Adityanath, Bhupendra Yadav, Om Mathur, Keshav Prasad Maurya and Sunil Bansal held a separate meeting ahead of the BJP MLAs meet

5 pm IST: Speculations are rife that Ypgi Adityanand could be the next chief minister of Uttar Pradesh.

4:46 pm IST: According to TV reports, Yogi Adityanath is leading the race for the next UP CM, while BJP UP President Keshav Prasad Maurya and Manoj Sinha may be appointed as his deputy CMs.

4 pm IST: BJP Chief Secretary Rahul Bhatnagar issued a circular to all government employees in Uttar Pradesh to be punctual to work from March 20 failing which action will be taken. "The formation of the new government in Uttar Pradesh is happening soon. The government policies and resolutions have to be fulfilled on time," the circular read.

3 pm IST: Manoj Sinha, who is a Union minister, had earlier said he was not in the race to be UP chief minister. And yet, tongues started wagging when he performed a ceremony on Saturday morning.

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