Uttar Pradesh MLC elections are an opportunity for BJP to make itself the single-largest party in the House and enjoy a majority in both Houses of the UP Legislature.
The BJP on Saturday included four former Samajwadi Party leaders, who had joined BJP before the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, in its 30-strong list of candidates for the state’s legislative council elections next month.
The biennial elections for the 36 out of 37 vacant seats for the upper House of the state’s legislature - Vidhan Parishad - is to be held on April 9, the counting for which would be declared on April 12.
The BJP released its first list for the UP legislative 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.
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 said.
Some of the prominent BJP candidates who figured in the party’s list on Saturday are former Congress MLC Dinesh Pratap Singh from Rae Bareli local authorities, former BSP leader Ramchandra Pradhan from Lucknow-Unnao local authorities and UP BJP general secretary Anoop Gupta from Khiri local authorities electoral college.
The four former SP leaders who figured in the BJP’s list of candidates for the Upper House are C P Chand from the Gorakhpur-Maharajganj local authorities, Ravishankar Singh 'Pappu' from Ballia local authorities, Rama Niranjan from Jhansi-Jalaun-Lalitpur local authorities and Narendra Bhati from Bulandshahr local authorities.
Ahead of the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, several SP MLCs, including Narendra Singh Bhati, Shatrudra Prakash, Rama Niranjan, Ravishankar Singh Pappu, CP Chand, Ghanshyam Lodhi, Shailendra Pratap Singh and Ramesh Mishra, had joined the BJP.
The BJP has also fielded K P Shrivastava as its candidate from the Allahabad local authority seat.
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.
Focusing on the legislative council elections, UP BJP's general secretary JPS Rathore said the voters in this election are village pradhans, members and chairmen of block development councils and zila panchayats besides corporators of urban civic bodies.
In the recent UP assembly elections, the BJP had won 255 seats while its allies Apna Dal (Sonelal) and NISHAD party won 12 and six seats respectively.
The Samajwadi Party won 111 seats while its ally Rashtriya Lok Dal won eight. The SBSP, another SP ally, won six seats.
Congress won two seats and the BSP one seat.