UP Legislative Council elections: SP will back BSP candidate, says Akhilesh

The Samajwadi Party holds the majority 61 seats in the 100-member UP Legislative Council, while the BSP has 9 seats

The Samajwadi Party (SP) will be supporting its new ally, Bahujan Samaj Party's (BSP) candidate in the upcoming Legislative Council elections in Uttar Pradesh, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav announced on Wednesday.

The election to 13 seats of the Legislative Council will be held on April 26 and result will be declared the same day.

The SP holds the majority 61 seats in the 100-member UP Legislative Council, while the BSP has 9 seats. The ruling party in the state, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has only 13 seats.

The SP and BSP that set aside their differences to ally during the bypolls for Lok Sabha seats of Gorakhpur and Phulpur, struck gold by defeating BJP in both the seats, the former being the home turf of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and a BJP stronghold.