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UP legislative council bypolls: 2 BJP candidates set to enter Upper House
The day after Kriti Kol filed her nomination as SP candidate, her nomination was cancelled on the grounds of her age. On papers, she mentioned her age as 28 years, while the minimum age qualification for the council elections is 30 years
LUCKNOW Two BJP candidates are set to enter the Uttar Pradesh legislative council unopposed as the nomination paper of Samajwadi Party’s Kriti Kol was on Tuesday rejected on grounds of her age. With this, the ‘adivasi mahila’ card that the SP played for the council bypolls on two seats has fallen flat.
The two seats, for which the by-polls are to be held, had fallen vacant after the death of Samajwadi Party’s Ahmad Hasan and the resignation of BJP’s Thakur Jaiveer Singh, who won the recent assembly polls.
The day after Kriti Kol filed her nomination as SP candidate for the polls, her nomination was cancelled by the returning officer on the grounds of her age. On papers, Kol had mentioned her age as 28 years, while the minimum age qualification for the council elections is 30 years. In her 2022 UP Assembly elections affidavit also, her age was mentioned as 28 years.
Kol had contested the 2022 UP assembly polls as SP candidate on the Chhanbey (Mirzapur) seat, but lost to BJP ally Apna Dal (S) candidate.
Election officer Brijbhushan Dubey said during scrutiny, the nomination paper of the SP candidate was found invalid and rejected as she is 28 years old and does not fulfil the required minimum age criteria of 30 years for entering the House.
Following the development, Dharmendra Singh Sainthwar, BJP’s Gorakhpur regional president and Nirmala Paswan, Kashi regional vice-president, who filed their nominations as BJP candidates on Monday, are set to enter the Upper House of the state legislature unopposed. Now, that there is no extra candidate in fray, there will not be any voting.
As the SP had declared Kol the candidate, its leaders had been asking MLAs to “now listen to ‘antaratma ki awaaz’ (conscience) and vote for the tribal candidate” just the way they had voted for Draupadi Murmu in the presidential poll. Draupadi Murmu is a tribal woman from Odisha.
SP leader Anurag Bhadauria told newspersons that he was not fully aware about the circumstances in which the nomination has been cancelled and thus won’t be able to comment on the isssue.
Brijbhushan Dubey said the two BJP candidates, who have remained in the fray, will be declared as elected on August 4.
The SP had made the announcement about the candidate, Kirti Kol, on Sunday despite the fact that the party is far short of the required votes in the election where MLAs vote. With its strength in the assembly, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is in a clear position to win both seats in case voting happens.
SP’s move of putting Kol in the poll fray came in the backdrop of the recently concluded presidential poll, which saw Droupadi Murmu become the first tribal woman to be elected to India’s highest constitutional post. The party had supported opposition candidate Yashwant Sinha.
The BJP is currently the largest party in the 100-member UP Legislative Council, with 73 members, followed by the SP with nine. The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Apna Dal (S), Nishad Party and Jansatta Dal Loktantrik have one member each. There are two members of the teachers’ group, two from independent group and two independent members.
Out of the remaining eight seats, elections are being held for two seats, which fell vacant after the death of SP MLC Ahmed Hasan and the resignation of Thakur Jaiveer Singh. The remaining six seats are for members to be nominated by the governor and there will be no election for these seats.
