UP council polls: Double whammy for BJP, no show for SP

New Delhi, Apr 12: The BJP will enjoy a majority in both Houses of the Uttar Pradesh legislative council after it put up an impressive show in the biennial elections to the UP legislative council or the Upper House.

The council has 100 seats and 36 vacant seats voted a few days back. The BJP is ahead on 30 while it has already won nine seats unopposed. However for the BJP there was a set back in Varanasi where Annapurna Singh the wife of strongman Brijesh Singh won by a huge margin with the BJP coming second.

In 2016, Singh who contested the seat was given a walkover as the BJP did not field any candidate against him.

The impressive show by the BJP comes in the wake of a stellar performance in the assembly polls held in March. The Samajwadi Party did not manage to win a single seat in the elections. Dr. Kafeel Khan who was jailed for his alleged role in the Gorakhpur oxygen deaths in 2017 was one of the SP's candidates.