Former Union minister and Supreme Court lawyer Kapil Sibal filed his nominations for the biennial elections to Rajya Sabha from UP on Monday. Along with Sibal, a young Congress leader from Amethi and UP Congress general secretary Deepak Singh also filed his papers as an official candidate for the UP legislative Council.
Both filed two sets of nominations to Returning Officer and Principal Secretary of the Assembly, Pradeep Kumar Dubey.
Sibal and Singh were accompanied by senior Congress leaders including AICC general secretary Madhusudan Mistri, Rajya Sabha member Pramod Tiwari and UP Congress prchief Nirmal Khatri.
Sibal, who was also accompanied by his wife, later told reporters that he will serve UP. When asked that whether the ruling SP has assured him of support as the Congress is short of 5 votes, he retorted " Sab Ka Saath, Mere Saath’’.
However, he refused further on other political questions.
The nominations of Deepak Singh for legislative Council was a surprise in Congress circles . The party denied ticket to two-term MlC, Naseeb Pathan.
Deepak Singh, a close confidant of Rahul Gandhi, was two-term chairman of Amethi block panchayat and was Chairman of Railway Amenities Committee with the status of Union minister of state during the previous UPA –II regime. Presently he is the general secretary of the UP Congress, in-charge of all frontal organisations.
Now a total of 10 candidates have filed papers for the 11 RS seats while for the 13 seats of legislative Council, 12 candidates have filed their nominations so far. Tuesday is the last date for filing of the nominations.
BSP general secretary Satish Chandra Mishra and Ashok Sidharth have filed for RS seats while BSP's Atar Singh Rao, Dinesh Chandra and Suresh Kashyap submitted their papers as candidates for the legislative Council polls.
Earlier on May 25, seven candidates of the ruling SP filed their nominations which included Amar Singh, former Union minister Beni Prasad Verma and Reoti Raman Singh. In the council SP has fielded 8 candidates.
Returning Officer Pradeep Dubey said that May 31 is the last date for filing of nominations while scrutiny of papers will be done the next day. Candidates can withdraw their nominations till June 3.
If there are no elections, then the candidates would be declared elected on June 3 evening. Elections for the RS would be held on June 10 and that for the Council, the next day. Results would be declared the same day of the elections.
