Polling for UP legislative council seats today, BJP eyes majority in Upper House too

On nine of the total 36 seats, for which the biennial polls are being conducted, candidates (all BJP’s) have already been declared elected unopposed and now voting will be held for the remaining seats

LUCKNOW Voting for the 27 Vidhan Parishad seats (local bodies) will be held on Saturday between 8am and 4pm amid tight security arrangements, chief electoral officer AK Shukla said here on Friday.

Counting for all the seats, according to him, will begin on April 12 from 8 in the morning. (Pic for representation)

Counting for all the seats, according to him, will begin on April 12 from 8 in the morning.

On nine of the total 36 seats, for which the biennial polls are being conducted, candidates (all BJP’s) have already been declared elected unopposed and now voting will be held for the remaining seats.

“As many as 1,20,657 voters will exercise their franchise through 739 polling booths in the 27 local authorities’ constituencies for which voting will take place on Saturday,” Shukla said. He said 95 candidates were in the fray for 27 seats.

The commission, he claimed, had made elaborate security arrangements for peaceful and fair polling and had deployed 293 zonal magistrates, 451 sector magistrates and 597 static magistrates for the purpose. “Observers will keep strict vigil on the entire process from voting till the counting,” the CEO said.

He further said that 3,699 polling staff had been deployed to conduct the polls while 1,668 light motor vehicles and 235 heavy vehicles would be used to transport poll personnel and other logistics. Shukla said no electronic devices, including cell phones, would be allowed to be carried inside the polling booth.

At present, in the 100-member Upper House, the BJP has 34 MLCs, the Samajwadi Party 17 and the Bahujan Samaj Party four. The Congress, Apna Dal (Sonelal) and Nishad Party have one member each in the House. The Teachers’ group has two MLCs, while the independent group (‘Nirdal Samooh’) and independents have one MLC each.

The BJP is said to have pulled out all stops to win all the 27 seats to get majority in the Upper House too, after it attained a thumping majority in the Lower House after the assembly polls last month.