Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati is in the fray for the State Legislative Council elections, scheduled to be held on June 10. The notification for the biennial elections was announced by the Election Commission of India on Monday. Polls in the State will be held for 13 seats.
Her name figures in the list of eight Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) candidates, whose names were announced at a meeting of party MLAs and MLCs in Lucknow on Monday. The list was declared by Ms. Mayawati in her capacity as president of the ruling party. Others in the list are: Rishipal, Satish Chand Jatav, Ram Kumar Kureel, Subodh Parashar, Mohammad Athar Khan, Vinod Chauhan and Lalchand.
The names of seven BSP candidates for the Rajya Sabha polls, scheduled to be held on June 17, were also declared. The list includes the name of BSP general-secretary and the chairman of Uttar Pradesh Advisory Council Satish Chandra Mishra, Ambed Rajan and Jugal Kishore.
Ms. Mayawati is a sitting member of the Upper House of the Uttar Pradesh Legislature, but her term, along with those of 12 other MLCs, expires on July 6 and the biennial polls have to be held before that date. She was elected to the Vidhan Parishad in 2007, following a by-election, soon after assuming charge as Chief Minister.
Other MLCs due to retire on July 6 are: BSP — Narendra Kashyap; Samajwadi Party — Anwar Ahmed, Yashwant Singh, Ram Asrey Vishwakarma, Ram Naresh Yadav and Subhash Chandra Yadav; Bharatiya Janata Party — J.P. Chaturvedi and Swatantra Dev Singh; Congress — Naseeb Pathan; Rashtriya Lok Dal — Munna Singh Chauhan and Hari Singh Dhillon.
In the forthcoming biennial polls, the electoral college consists of the MLAs and 29 first preference votes will be required by a candidate for winning the poll. The BSP, which has a strength of 226 MLAs in the Assembly, is assured of winning seven of the 12 seats on its own. The SP, with 87 MLAs, can win three seats, while the BJP with 48 MLAs can hope to win just one. Since the Congress and the RLD, who have 20 and 10 MLAs respectively in the Vidhan Sabha, cannot win a seat on their own, a contest is expected for the 12th seat. Nine independents and one MLA of the Rashtriya Swabhiman Party complete the list of sitting MLAs. Two seats are vacant.
