Test of opposition unity in UP as parties prepare for council polls

Lucknow: Opposition unity will be tested during the UP Legislative Council polls, with arc lights on how the ruling party and the opposition chalk out their course of action.

The notification for polls to 13 seats of the council would be issued tomorrow. The election would be held on April 26 and counting of votes would take place the same day.

After securing a thumping win in the recently-concluded biennial Rajya Sabha elections from the state by bagging nine out of 10 seats that went to polls, the BJP is confident of securing at least 11 council seats going by its brute strength in the assembly along with its allies.

In the 100-member UP Legislative Council, the BJP has just 13 members. The Samajwadi Party has 61 members, the BSP nine, the Congress two, the RLD one and others 12. Two seats are vacant.

To ensure victory, a candidate needs 29 first preference votes, the state election office said. Arithmetically, the BJP and its allies are likely to win 11 out of 13 seats comfortably and still be left with five additional votes.

Exuding confidence about the ruling party increasing its tally in the Upper House, UP BJP general secretary Vijay Bahadur Pathak said, "Our party will register a thumping win in the council polls, bagging 11 of the 13 seats going to polls." Samajwadi Party spokesperson and MLC Sunil Singh Sajan said the SP-BSP combine would comfortably win two seats.