13 nominations for RS polls in UP, 15 for Vidhan Parishad

Lucknow, Mar 17 (UNI) Altogether 13 candidates have filled their nominations for the ten Rajya Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh for which biennial polls are slated for March 28.

Similarly, for 13 State Legislative Council seats at stake, 15 candidates have filed their nominations.

Scrutiny of nominations would be held tomorrow, while candidates can withdraw their papers on March 20.

For Rajya Sabha, Mr Janeshwar Mishra, Mr Banwari Lal Kanchal, Mr Veerpal Singh, Mr Virendra Bhatia and Mr Mahendra Mohan Gupta (all Samajwadi Party), Maulana Mahmood Madni (RLD) and Mr Azad Kumar Kardam (Congress) filed their papers on the last day of filing of nominations today.

Virendra Bhatia, former Advocate general of the state, came on a stretcher as he recently underwent a hip surgery.

Candidates for the legislative council seats, who filled their nominations today, were Mr Naresh Chandra Uttam, Khawaja Halim, Kashinath, Rakesh Singh Rana, Ramsharan Das and Mr Dayaram Prajapati (all SP), Mr Harpal Singh Saini (RLD), Mr Matiur Rahman (Congress) and Mr Pradeep Kumar Singh (Independent).

Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav, SP general secretary Amar Singh, RLD supremo Ajit Singh, Union Minister of State for Steel Akhilesh Das, along with Congress state president Salman Khurshid were present with their party candidates who filled the nomination papers.

BJP candidates Kalraj Mishra and Vinay Katiyar, along with industrialist Sudanshu Mittal as independent, had filed their nomination papers for Rajya Sabha yesterday.

According to information available, the name of Mr Mittal was proposed by rebel BJP MLAs, who are now unattached in the House, along with some independents and the lone Akhil Bharatiya Congress member Akhilesh Singh.

The industralist is reported to have close links with top BJP leaders at the Centre.

The BSP had already given tickets to three candidates even though it can get two clear seats of the ten RS seats at stake. The party was banking on the 38 rebel MLAs who they claim as BSP members.

The elections, if required, would be held on March 28.

Meanwhile three official candidates of the BJP -- Mr Ramapati Ram Tripathi, Mr Ashok Dhawan and Mr Ramnaresh Rawat -- also filed their nominations for the legislative council seats yesterday.

BSP had already nominated three candidates each for the RS and council seats.

While for BSP, Mr Balihari, Mr Satish Chandra and Moon Kadh filed their nominations for the RS seats, Mr Babu Singh Kushawaha, Mr Jugal Kishore and Mr Sunil Kumar had submitted their nominations for the legislative council seats.

Polling would take place on March 28 from 1000 hrs to 1500 hrs 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, was set to win six out of the ten RS seats, while the BJP and BSP aimed at getting two seats each.

As per the the Assembly strength, the SP and its allies 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 winning the Rajya Sabha elections.

Similarly in the 13 Council seats at stake, the ruling alliance stands to win eight seats, while the BJP and BSP can take away two seats each. For winning the council seat, a candidate has to secure 29 first preferential votes.

UNI MB ARS LR ND1624