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UP Legislative Council to get LoP now; 13 new members sworn in
The Council does not have an LoP since July 2022. The SP had made its MLC Lal Bihari Yadav the LoP in May 2022, but after one of its members—Sanjay Lathar retired in in July, 2022, the SP’s strength in the Council fell to nine, one short of the minimum number that the largest opposition party in the Council requires to have for an LoP. The SP MLC Lal Bihari Yadav said that that the SP now had the required numbers for LoP post and soon the party would announce an LoP.
Lucknow: After the newly elected MLCs took oath for the 100-member Upper House, the strength of the Samajwadi Party has increased to 10, and it now qualifies for the post of Leader of Opposition in the House.
On March 14, 13 candidates were declared elected unopposed in the biennial elections of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council -- 10 candidates from the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and three from the Samajwadi Party.
The Council does not have an LoP since July 2022. The SP had made its MLC Lal Bihari Yadav the LoP in May 2022, but after one of its members—Sanjay Lathar retired in in July, 2022, the SP’s strength in the Council fell to nine, one short of the minimum number that the largest opposition party in the Council requires to have for an LoP. The SP MLC Lal Bihari Yadav said that that the SP now had the required numbers for LoP post and soon the party would announce an LoP.
The party sources indicate that Lal Bihari will again be the LoP.
The BJP-led NDA has a brute majority in the Legislative Council like it has in UP’s Vidhan Sabha.
On Friday evening, UP Legislative Council chairman Kunwar Manvendra Singh administered the oath of membership to 13 newly elected members in the Tilak Hall of the Vidhan Bhawan.
Among the MLCs who took oath are Dr Mahendra Singh, Vijay Bahadur Pathak, Ashok Kataria, Ramtirth Singhal, Santosh Singh, Dharmendra Singh and Mohit Beniwal of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Ashish Patel of NDA ally Apna Dal (S), Vichhelal of Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) and Yogesh Chaudhary of Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) were also sworn in.
Samajwadi Party’s Balram Yadav, Shah Alam and Kiran Pal Kashyap also took oath in the Vidhan Bhawan.
