In an apparent bid to ward off possible allegations of nepotism in the party, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday dropped its chief Rajnath Singh's son Pankaj Singh as its candidate in an Uttar Pradesh Assembly constituency.

It replaced him with Shashikant Rajbhar as party candidate in Cherai village as it came out with its third list of nine nominees for the state elections.

On March 14, it had announced that Pankaj Singh would be its candidate from Cherai, but the same night the party president's son declined to contest the elections, insisting he would first like to work for the organisation.

So far, the saffron party, which has forged an alliance with Uttar Pradesh's Apna Dal and the Janata Dal-United for elections to the 403-seat state Assembly, has declared more than 350 candidates.