Notification for 10 RS, 13 Council biennial polls in UP

Lucknow, Mar 10(UNI) Poll process for the biennial elections to ten Rajya Sabha and 13 state Legislative Council seats started here today with the issuance of the notification for polls slated on March 28.

Meanwhile, major political parties are yet to announce the candidates for the elections eventhough they have started discussions within the heirarchy to select candidates for the elections.

Returning officer and principal secretary( Vidhan sabha) R P Pandey said here today that the nominations for both the biennial polls would continue till March 17. Scrutiny of nomination papers would be held on March 18 and candidates can withdraw their nominations till March 20.

He said if required polling would be held on March 28 from 0900 hours to 1600 hours and counting of votes would be taken up thereafter.

The ruling Samajwadi Party with the help of its allies Rashtriya Lok Dal and other smaller parties were set to win 6 out of the ten RS seat, the BJP aims at getting two seats and the BSP one.

As per the the assembly strength, the SP and its alliance have 235 members (SP-194, RLD-15, CPI(M)- 2, Loktantrik Congress-2, Akhil Bharatiya Congress-1, Unattached-5 and Independent 16) while the BJP has 83, BSP 67 and Congress 16. One seat is vacant.

A candidate has to get 37 first preferential votes for the Rajya Sabha elections.

Similarly in the 13 Council seats at stake , the ruling alliance can win 8 seats while the BJP and BSP can take away two seats each.

For winning the council seat, a candidate have to receive 29 first preferential vote.

The ten RS members who would be retiring on April 2 , are Mr Janeshwar Mishra and Mr Sachidanand Hari Sachi Maharaj (both SP), Mr Kalraj Mishra, Mr Ramnath Kovid, Mr Balbir Kumar Punj, and Mr Ram Baksh Singh Verma (all BJP), Mr Ghanysham Chandra Kharwar and Mr Dara Singh Chauhan (both BSP), Mr Rajiv Shukla( Akhil Bharatiya Loktrantrik Congress and Mr M M Agarwal (Independent).

Of the ten retiring RS members, Mr Janeshwar Mishra and Mr Kalraj Mishra are set to be renominated by their respective parties.

In the last RS biennial polls held on June 21,2004, out of the total 11 seats at stake, four candidates of the SP got elected which included film star Jaya Bachchan. Other prominent candidates who were elected included industralist Anil Ambani, hotelier Lalit Suri, BJP leaders Mr Arun Shourie and Mr Murli Manohar Joshi and BSP president Mayawati.

The 10 RS seats will fall vacant on April 2, while the terms for the Council seats would expire on May five.

Meanwhile Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) sources here today said the RS elections would be a testing ground for the ruling alliance as it might witness cross voting by the rebel BSP MLAs, who joined the Samajwadi Party in September 2003. Out of the total 38 such MLAs, five have already switched over to the BSP last week.

On the other hand, the Rashtriya Lok Dal, the main alliance partner of the SP, had already demanded one RS and two Council seats.

The BJP has also started its process to select the candidates and a list of 66 probable candidates names have been sent to the high command to choose two nominees from it. However, Mr Kalraj Mishra and Mr Vinay Katiyar were ahead among others to be nominated for the RS.

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