Nine BJP candidates file nominations for UP Legislative Council polls

BJP's nine candidates, including Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, on Thursday filed their nominations for the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council elections.

The nominations were filed a day after the party announced the names of the nine candidates for the polls.

The nominations were filed in the presence of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Union minister Swatantra Dev Singh and other BJP leaders.

The candidates who filed the nominations include Maurya, Chaudhary Bhupendra Singh, Dayashankar Mishra Dayalu, J P S Rathore, Jaswant Saini, Danish Azad Ansari, Banwari Lal Dohre, Mukesh Sharma.

The ninth candidate, Narendra Kashyap, could not reach for the nomination due to ill health. Satish Sharma filed the nomination on his behalf.

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 House in the state assembly.

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

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

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.