The BJP on Wednesday announced nine candidates, including Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, for the Legislative Council elections.

The list of candidates released by the Bharatiya Janata Party Central Office in New Delhi include the names of Keshav Prasad Maurya, Chaudhary Bhupendra Singh, Dayashankar Mishra Dayalu, J P S Rathore, Narendra Kashyap, Jaswant Saini, Danish Azad Ansari, Banwari Lal Dohre and Mukesh Sharma.

Tenures of Deputy CM Maurya and Panchayati Raj Minister Chaudhary Bhupendra Singh as members of the Legislative Council end on July 6.

Whereas Minister of State for Cooperation (Independent Charge) J P S Rathore, Minister of State for Backward Classes Welfare Narendra Kashyap, Minister of State for AYUSH (Independent Charge) Dayashankar Mishra Dayalu, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs and Industrial Development Jaswant Saini and Minister of State for Minority Welfare Danish Azad Ansari are not members of either Houses.

Maurya had contested the 2022 assembly polls from Sirathu assembly seat of Kaushambi but lost the election against Samajwadi Party's Pallavi Patel.

Mukesh Sharma included in the list is a senior office bearer of the BJP.

According to the information received from the office of the Chief Electoral Officer, the process of election for 13 seats of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council has started.

Nominations will be received till June 9. Scrutiny of nomination papers will be held on June 10 and June 13 will be the last date for withdrawal of nominations.

The voting, if needed, will be held on June 20 between 9 am and 4 pm. The results will be declared the same day.