Notification for by-elections to RS seats issued

Lucknow, May 29 :The Election Commission today issued notification for by-elections to two Rajya Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh slated for June 15.

The by-elections were necessitated following the resignations of cine star and Samajwadi Party member Jaya Bachchan and industrialist and independent member Anil Ambani in March.

Ms Bachchan had to resign as a member of the RS on the directive of the Election Commission following a recommendation by the President for occupying the slot of chairperson of UP Film Development Council (UPFDC) which has been identified as a post of profit.

Returning officer and principal secretary (assembly) Rajendra Prasad Pandey told UNI here that nominations could be filed till June 5 while scrutiny of papers would be on June 6. Candidates can withdraw their nominations till June 8.

He said if required, elections would be held on June 15 and the results would announced the same day.

Meanwhile, the EC had rejected twice the recommendation of assembly speaker Mata Prasad Pandey to nominate newly appointed principal secretary A N Mittal as a returning officer for the RS bypolls.

The EC has nominated the other principal secretary Mr Pandey as the RO for the elections against the wishes of the Speaker and the state government.

In perhaps a first ever in the history of UP, Mr Mittal, an officer of the judical cadre, was made the second principal secretary of the assembly last week.

Samajwadi Party sources said Ms Bachchan will be the party candidate for the RS elections and is likely to file her nominations on June 1. The SP is yet to decide on the candidate for the second seat.

Earlier, Ms Bachchan had also resigned from the post of the chairperson of the UPFDC on Thursday last.

According to the present 404 member strength of the state assembly, the ruling Samajwadi Party has 195 members and its allies RLD-15, CPI(M)-2, Loktrantrik Congress-2, unattached-5 and Independents-16.

The opposition comprises of BJP- 83, BSP-67, Congress-16, Hindu Mahasabha-1 and Akhil Bharatiya Congress-1. One nominated member has no voting rights in the RS elections.

UNI