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UP legislative council elections: All you need to know about April 9 polls
The elections for the 36 out of 37 vacant seats for the Upper House (Vidhan Parishad) of Uttar Pradesh will be held on April 9, the counting for which would be declared on April 12.
After the high-voltage Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, parties, especially the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Samajwadi Party are heading for the political battle of the legislative council elections. The biennial elections for the 36 out of 37 vacant seats for the Upper House (Vidhan Parishad) of Uttar Pradesh will be held on April 9, the counting for which would be declared on April 12.
On Saturday, the BJP released its first list for the council, naming 30 candidates while eyeing to win the majority of the 36 vacant seats. The BJP is expected to release its second list of candidates later. On Sunday, the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party announced the names of its 35 candidates for the polls.
The polls for the 36 seats belonging to local authorities constituencies within the state’s Upper House was earlier scheduled to be held on two different dates but the polls for all of them would now be held together on April 9, sources in the office of state’s chief electoral officer told news agency PTI.
Current composition in Vidhan Parishad
For the ruling BJP, which came back to power with a two-third majority in the just-concluded assembly elections, it will be an opportunity to make itself the single-largest party in the House and enjoy a majority in both Houses of the UP Legislature.
According to the UP Vidhan Sabha official website, the BJP has 35 MLCs, SP 17 and the BSP four MLCs at present in the 100-member UP legislative council.
The Congress, Apna Dal (Sonelal) and NISHAD party have one member each in it.
The Teachers' group has two MLCs while the "Independent Group" ('Nirdal Samooh') and independents have one MLC each.
UP Vidhan Sabha’s 36 seats fell vacant on March 7 after the expiry of terms of its members while the 37th seat fell vacant following the death of the Leader of Opposition Ahmad Hassan, belonging to the Samajwadi Party, after a prolonged illness.
For the 36 seats falling vacant on March 7, the Election Commission of India had issued the notification on January 28 this year for the polls to be held earlier. It, however, had to be deferred due to the state assembly polls.
