Uttar Pradesh MLC polls: All 13 candidates set to be elected unopposed
BJP’s nine candidates, including seven ministers, file their papers on the last day of nominations. Four Samajwadi Party candidates are also in the fray.
The stage was set for all 13 candidates to be declared elected unopposed to the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council (Vidhan Parishad) as there were no additional nominations on the last day on Thursday apart from the nine Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidates, including seven ministers, who filed their papers on the day.
Four Samajwadi Party candidates had filed their nominations on Wednesday.
The number of candidates equals the 13 vacancies in the council. The election was otherwise scheduled for June 20.
“Since only 13 candidates have filed nominations against as many vacancies, all of them would be declared elected unopposed,” said Brij Bhushan Dubey, returning officer for the U.P. council polls.
Earlier in the day, all the BJP candidates first arrived at the party office from where they moved together to file nominations.
They were welcomed at the party office by U.P. BJP chief Swatantra Dev Singh. Chief minister Yogi Adityanath was present for the nominations along with other senior party functionaries.
Nearly all of them prayed before filing their nominations.
The BJP candidates include deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya and ministers Chaudhary Bhupendra Singh, Daya Shankar Mishra ‘Dayalu’, JPS Rathore, Narendra Kashyap, Jaswant Saini and Danish Azad Ansari and two others — Lucknow BJP chief Mukesh Sharma and Dalit leader from Kannauj Banvarilal Dohre.
“I am grateful to my party leadership for giving this opportunity to such a young worker like me,” minorities minister Danish Azad said.
The BJP and allies that have 273 MLAs are in a position to get all nine MLC candidates elected. The SP and allies with 125 MLAs are in a position to get four nominees elected.
After this election, the BJP’s strength would rise to 72 in the council. Its dominance would further increase after governor Anandiben Patel nominates six members.
The SP has 11 members so far but its strength will come down to nine after these polls.
The MLCs whose term is ending include six of the Samajwadi Party, three each of the BJP and the Bahujan Samaj Party and one of the Congress.
The BSP will be down to a solitary MLC while the Congress would be left without any representation in the U.P. council, a first since independence.