Voting Underway For Bypolls To Two UP Legislative Council Seats

The BJP is well-positioned to clinch victory for both of its candidates based on its numerical strength in the Legislative Assembly.

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Lucknow: Voting for the byelection to two vacant seats of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council for which both the BJP and the Samajwadi Party have fielded candidates began here on Monday. The polling began at 9 am and will continue till 4 pm. The counting of votes will begin at 5 pm. The results are likely to be declared by the evening.

Based on its numerical strength in the legislative assembly, the BJP is comfortably placed to secure victory for both its candidates. An Assembly Secretariat official said Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Finance Minister Suresh Khanna were among those who cast their votes in the morning.

The by-polls to the two seats were necessitated by the resignation of Laxman Acharya and the death of Banwari Lal Dohre. The tenure of Acharya, who was made the governor of Sikkim, was to last till January 2027 while Dohre's term was to expire in July 2028. The BJP has fielded Manvendra Singh and Padamsen Chowdhary while Ram Jatan Rajbhar and Ramkaran Nirmal are contesting for the Samajwadi Party.

The notification for the bypolls was issued on May 11 with May 18 the last day to file nominations. Only members of the assembly are eligible to vote in the legislative council elections. The BJP has 255 MLAs in the 403-member assembly while allies Apna Dal (Sonelal) has 13 and the NISHAD Party six.

The Samajwadi Party has 109 MLAs and its ally the Rashtriya Lok Dal has nine. The Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party has six MLAs, the Congress and the Jansatta Dal (Loktantrik) have two each and the Bahujan Samaj Party has one.