BJP, SP in the fray for UP legislative council polls on Jan 28

Of the 12 MLCs whose tenure is expiring, six are from the Samajwadi Party, three are from the BJP, three belong to the BSP.

Elections to the 12 legislative council seats in Uttar Pradesh will be held on January 28 as the term of 12 members of legislative councils (MLCs) is coming to an end on January 30. UP's deputy chief minister Dinesh Sharma, chairman of UP legislative council Ramesh Yadav and state BJP chief Swatantra Dev Singh are among these members.

Counting of votes will be done on January 28. (PTI)

Here’s all you need to know about the UP legislative council elections:

1. Nominations for the elections can be filed by the candidates till January 18. Scrutiny of nominations will be held on January 19 and withdrawal of names can be done till January 21.

2. In the 100-member UP legislative council, the Samajwadi Party has 55 MLCs, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has 25, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has eight and the Congress has two MLCs. 4 MLCs belong to smaller parties while there are three independents and three seats are vacant.

3. Of the 12 MLCs whose tenure is expiring, six are from the Samajwadi Party, three are from the BJP, three belong to the BSP. These include Swatantra Dev Singh, Dinesh Sharma and Laxman Acharya (BJP), Naseemuddin Siddiqui (disqualified), Dharmavir Ashok and Pradip Jatav (BSP), and Ahmed Hasan, Ashu Malik, Ramesh Yadav, Ram Jatan Rajbhar, Virendra Singh and Sahib Singh Saini (SP).

4. The poll watchdog has also issued guidelines to be followed during the entire election process for all persons keeping in mind the coronavirus pandemic. Every person shall wear a face mask during election-related activity and social distancing shall be maintained as per the guidelines of the state government and the ministry of home affairs. Sanitisers will be used and thermal screening of all persons will be conducted at the entry of hall/room/premises used for election purposes.

5. Panchayats reserved for Scheduled Castes or Other Backward Classes will not be applicable for reservation this time in the areas of block heads, district panchayat members and district panchayat presidents. The same system will also be applicable in the areas reserved for SC, ST.

6. Counting of votes will be done on January 28 itself.