A day after Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav declared that his party would ensure one seat for the BSP in legislative Council elections, BSP’s BR Ambedkar filed nomination papers on Thursday, for the crucial biennial polls to 13 seats of the Council.
Ambedkar had also contested the biennial Rajya Sabha polls as a joint opposition candidate last month but lost out to BJP member Anil Agarwal.
“Only one candidate has so far filed nomination. The process will continue till April 16 while the next day nominations will be scrutinised. The last date of withdrawal is April 19,” an official said.
After the hectic Rajya Sabha polls last month, legislative Council polls seems to be another round of political battle between the BJP and the united opposition. The term of 13 members including that of two UP ministers - Mahendra Kumar Singh and Mohsin Raza, and Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav would end on May 5.
With 403 MlAs in the Assembly, including a nominated member is eligible to vote and one seat vacant, each candidate would need at least 29 votes to get elected to the Council.
The BJP-led NDA, which has 324 MlAs could easily get 11 seats, the SP could bag one seat of its own while the joint opposition could win the last seat if the BJP does not field an additional candidate.
In the 100-member legislative Council, Samajwadi Party is the largest party with 61 members followed by the BSP with 9.
Council members scheduled to retire on May 5 are Akhilesh Yadav, Ambika Chaudhary, Umar Ali Khan, Naresh Chandra Uttam, Dr Madhu Gupta, Rajendra Chaudhary, Ramsakal Gujjar, D Vijay Yadav (all SP), UP ministers Dr Mahendra Kumar Singh and Mohsin Raza (both BJP), Sunil Kumar Chittor and Dr Vijay Pratap (both BSP) and Chaudhary Mushtaq ( RlD).