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UP Vidhan Parishad polls: BJP, SP mull over names as Cong,BSP stare at embarrassment
After these polls, the BSP would be left with just one MLC while the Congress won’t have any representation in the U.P. Vidhan Parishad
LUCKNOW: Intense lobbying has begun in the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as well as the main opposition Samajwadi Party (SP), for candidature against the 13 vacancies in the state’s Vidhan Parishad, the upper house of the legislature.
The BJP currently dominates the 100-member UP legislative council with 66 MLCs, followed by 11 of the main opposition Samajwadi Party. Based on their strength in the UP assembly, only these two parties, BJP and allies (273 MLAs) and SP and allies (125 MLAs) are currently in a position to ensure win of their candidates.
A meeting of the BJP core group for naming candidates against the vacancies is scheduled at chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s residence in the presence of senior leaders. “The nomination process that opened on Thursday will continue till June 9. Scrutiny will take place on June 10 while nomination can be withdrawn till June 13. Elections if required, would take place on June 20,” said Brij Bhushan Dubey, the returning officer for Vidhan Parishad polls.
These elections would provide an opportunity to the BJP to send five ministers of Yogi 2.0 government, who aren’t members of either house of the state legislature, to the Vidhan Parishad.
Also, the tenure of deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, an MLC, is ending on July 6 and he too is expected to be named to the Parishad once again. Since the Yogi 2.0 ministers are expected to be named for 6 of the 9 seats that the BJP is likely to win, lobbying is on for the remaining three seats. “There is a possibility that some opposition members from the legislative council who had joined us ahead of the 2022 U.P. polls could be named,” a BJP leader said.
The 11 MLCs whose term is ending include 6 of the Samajwadi Party, 3 each of the BJP and BSP and 1 of Congress. After the elections, the BJP’s strength would go up to 72, while the SP’s strength would be reduced to 9 MLCs. Post polls, the BSP that currently has 4 MLCs would be left with just one member while the Congress would be left without any representation in the UP council, a first since Independence.
Each MLC would require votes of 29 MLAs for an outright win.
“The Vidhan Parishad polls would add more muscle to the BJP strength in the council and the governor too is expected to nominate 6 MLCs to the upper house. Usually, they are from the ruling party and once that happens the party’s total strength in the assembly would be around 78 in the 100-member house, a first in decades,” said BJP leader.
From the opposition ranks, there is much speculation if the Samajwadi Party would name Swami Prasad Maurya, (labour minister in the BJP government from 2017 to 2022) who had joined the SP, just ahead of the elections. The SP could also leave one seat for its alliance partner Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party. Sobaran Singh Yadav, the former lawmaker from Karhal assembly segment of Mainpuri, who had vacated his seat for party chief Akhilesh Yadav is also among the claimants.
