14 out of 15 UP council nominations cleared; fate of one undecided

Lucknow, Mar 18 (UNI) All the 15 nominations, barring one filed by an independent candidate, for 13 Uttar Pradesh legislative council seats were cleared, even as the fate of an Independent candidate hung in balance.

Returning officer for the polls and Principal secretary (Legislative Assembly) R P Pandey cleared the names of 14 candidates for the polls. But with Congress filing various objections on the affidavit filed by Independent candidate Pradip Singh, the Returning Officer failed to take a decision today despite three hours of debate. ''I will take a decision before 1100 hrs on Monday...the process of withdrawl of nominations would begin at 1100 hrs,'' Mr Pandey said.

The polls, if necessitated, would take place on March 28.

Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Pramod Tiwari claimed that his party had lodged 22 objections on the nomination of Mr Singh. ''He has mentioned 20 criminal cases pending against him. But has failed to show that he is a history sheeter at police station Sangramgarh in Pratapgarh district...there are several other glaring mistakes in his papers,'' Tiwari added.

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.

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 preference votes.

UNI NAB ARS VD KP2003