Close on the heels of resounding victory in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party has set its eye on becoming the single largest party in the state Upper House as well by winning a majority of the 36 seats of UP Legislative Council from local bodies constituency going to polls on Saturday.
The Election Commission of India has deployed observers in each constituency to ensure free and fair conduct of the polls. The BJP candidates have been elected unopposed on nine seats. For the remaining 27 seats, the ECI has set up 739 polling stations for the 1,20,657 voters.
The 36 seats are spread across 35 local authority constituencies. The biennial poll was earlier planned in February in two phases but now the polling will be held in one phase on April 9. Counting of votes will be taken up on April 12.
It is an opportunity for the ruling party to attain a clear majority in both the Houses of the Uttar Pradesh Legislature.
In the 100-member UP Legislative Council, the BJP has 34 MLCs, the Samajwadi Party 17 and the Bahujan Samaj Party four. The Congress, Apna Dal (Sonelal) and NISHAD Party have one member each in the Upper House. The Teachers' group has two MLCs, while the independent group (Nirdal Samooh) and independents have one MLC each.
As many as 37 council seats are vacant at present.
Addressing BJP workers a week ago, Chief Minister Adityanath said it was important for the party to win the 36 seats to advance his government's growth agenda without any hurdle.
“If the party wins all the 36 seats, you can assume that it will have a two-thirds majority in the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council and will have no problem in taking forward the development schemes expeditiously," he said
Yogi Adityanath, an MLA from Gorakhpur, will cast his vote in Gorakhpur on Saturday at the polling booth in the municipal corporation, official sources said. The voters in this biennial election are elected members of three-tier panchayat bodies and urban local bodies like nagar nigams, nagar palika parishads and nagar panchayats. Local MLAs and MPs in each urban local body constituency are also the voters in these elections.The Congress and the Bahujan Samaj Party have not fielded any candidate in the legislative council polls, making it a straight fight between the BJP and the SP, the principal opposition in the state assembly. Some independent candidates are also in the fray.