Three Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP)candidates filed their nomination papers for the biennial election to 12 seats of the State legislative Council here on Wednesday.
The candidates who filed their nominations are leader of the Opposition in the council Nasimuddin Siddique, Dharamveer Singh Ashok and Pradeep Kumar Jatav. The candidates filed two sets of nominations each to the returning officer and principal secretary of the state Assembly, Pradeep Kumar Dubey, at the Central hall of the state assembly. leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly, Swami Prasad Maurya, State BSP president lalji Verma and former Speaker, Sukhdeo Rajbhar were among the prominent BSP leaders present during the filing of the nominations. Talking to media persons soon after nomination process, Swami Prasad Maurya, claimed that all the three Party candidates would win the elections. When asked about the number game felling short for BSP, Maurya said that some small Parties who not fielded candidates had assured them of full co-operation and even the Independent legislators forwarded support to them. He also claimed that in 2012, they win three seats in similar situation.
Nominations for the biennial polls started on Tuesday and January 13 is the last date for filing of the nominations. Only three candidates have filed nominations so far in the biennial polls. The nominations would be scrutinised on January 14 and candidates can withdraw their papers tillJanuary 16. The results, if election happens, will be announced on January 23. Samajwadi Party had already announced eight candidates who will also file their nominations within a day or two. From SP, state Health Minister Ahmad Hassan, Ramesh Yadav, Ramjatan Rajbhar, Sahab Singh Saini, Ashok Bajpai, Virendra Singh Gurjar, Sarojini Agarwal and Ashu Mallik are the party candidates.
Both SP and BSP have given one candidate extra from what they can win thus giving speculation about cross voting during the elections. Twelve members — seven from BSP, three from ruling SP and two from the BJP— are retiring on January 30, which include both the leader of the Upper House Ahmad Hassan and leader of the Opposition Naseemuddin Siddiqui. Others who will be retiring include Ramesh Yadav and Dr Sarojni Agarwal (SP), Ashok Kumar Sidharth, Dr Om Prakash Bharti, Pratap Singh Baghel, Mahesh Arya and lokesh Prajapati (all BSP), and Baburam M.Com and Vinod Pandey (both BJP).
As per the strength of 403 members of the state Assembly, around 33 members will be electing one MlC each and since the ruling Samajwadi Party has 230 members, it will be the major gainer expecting to win at least seven members. With 80 MlAs, the BSP can manage to win two seats comfortably and had to depend on cross voting for the third candidate, BJP with 41 members will be able to get one seat while one seat is likely to go to Congress-Rashtirya lok Dal (RlD) combine. Congress has 28 members and RlD has eight.The party wise strength in UP assembly is SP 230 members, BSP 80 members, BJP 41 members, Congress 28 members, RlD 8 members, Peace party four members, Quami Ekta Dal two and Nationalist Congress Party, Etehad-e-Millat Council and Trinamool Congress one each and Independent six.