Cong announces five MLC candidates in UP, vows to contest all 11 seats

Lucknow: The Congress on Friday announced its candidates for five Legislative Council seats in Uttar Pradesh, setting the stage for a direct contest in the upcoming teachers’ and graduates’ constituency elections scheduled for February next year.

At the party headquarters in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh Congress president Ajay Rai declared the names of the five candidates and said that the party would contest all 11 MLC seats across the state. He said the Congress is committed to giving a strong voice to youth and teachers in the Legislative Council and has begun a massive enrolment drive to mobilise support.

“The party will contest all 11 seats on its own. To strengthen our base, we are registering five lakh graduate voters and two lakh teacher voters across the state. Forms have been distributed to all district and city Congress committees,” Rai said.

According to the announcement, Vikrant Vashistha will contest from the Meerut-Saharanpur Graduates’ Constituency, Raghuraj Singh Pal from Agra Graduates’ Constituency, Devmani Tiwari from Lucknow Graduates’ Constituency and Sanjay Priyadarshi from Varanasi Teachers’ Constituency. The name for the fifth seat is expected to be announced soon.

The announcement came a day after the Samajwadi Party released its list of five MLC candidates. Rai made it clear that the Congress will go solo in the council elections, clarifying that its alliance with the SP pertains only to Assembly and Parliamentary elections. “This is not a symbol-based election, so there is no question of an alliance,” he said.

Rai also took aim at Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati, alleging that her recent rally in Lucknow was orchestrated with the help of the BJP.