13 candidates elected unopposed in Uttar Pradesh Legislative polls

Lucknow/ Mumbai/ Patna: All 13 candidates who had filed papers for the polls to the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council were declared elected unopposed on Monday.

Nine of the elected candidates were from the BJP and four from the Samajwadi Party. They included Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya and former state minister Swami Prasad Maurya, who had quit the BJP and joined the Samajwadi Party ahead of the UP Assembly polls.

Returning Officer and Special Secretary to the Legislative Assembly, B B Dubey, gave information in this regard here.

The announcement was made soon after the time for the withdrawal of nominations on 13 seats came to an end.

The other BJP candidates declared elected unopposed were Chaudhary Bhupendra Singh, Dayashankar Mishra Dayalu, J P S Rathore, Jaswant Saini, Danish Azad Ansari, Banwari Lal Dohre, Mukesh Sharma and Narendra Kashyap.

Besides Swami Prasad Maurya, Samajwadi Party's Jasmir Ansari, Mukul Yadav and Shahnawaz Khan made it to the Legislative Council.

In Maharashtra, BJP-backed independent candidate Sadabhau Khot and NCP's Shivajrao Gajre withdrew their nominations for the Maharashtra Legislative Council polls, leaving 11 contestants in the fray for 10 seats as the state was set to witness another bitter fight between the BJP and the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi after the last week's cliffhanger in the Rajya Sabha polls.

Eleven candidates are in the fray for 10 vacant seats of the Legislative Council for which polling will be held on June 20, an official said.

Each candidate has to garner 25.81 votes for securing a win in the polls where members of the 288-strong legislative assembly form the electoral college.

The BJP has fielded five candidates, while the Congress, a constituent of the ruling MVA, has given tickets to two nominees. However, the BJP and the Congress do not have enough votes of their own to ensure a victory for their fifth and second candidate, respectively.

Meanwhile, seven candidates were declared elected unopposed to the Bihar legislative council.

According to the Bihar Vidhan Sabha secretariat, certificates were handed over to the respective candidates, four of whom were fielded by the ruling NDA and the remaining by the opposition RJD.

The biennial polls have enabled the RJD to raise its tally in the upper house by three.