Headlines
All SP, BSP candidates win in UP council polls
All the eight candidates of
the ruling Samajwadi Party (SP) and three of the Bahujan Samaj Party
(BSP) emerged victorious as results for the 12 state legislative council
seats were announced Friday evening.
The polls were held
earlier in the day. Members of the state assembly form the electoral
college for the state council elections. The Samajwadi Party holds the
majority in the assembly.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) could
manage only one seat and its another candidate lost. It, however,
managed 10 extra votes from other parties.
Earlier in the day, 399 of the 403 legislators cast their votes.
The
BSP's winning candidates are Pradeep Jatav, Naseemuddin Siddiqui and
Dharmveer Ashok, while the ruling SP's winners were Ramesh Yadav, Ahmed
Hasan, Sarojini Agarwal, Saheb Singh Saini, Virendra Singh Gujjar, Ram
Jatan Rajbhar, Dr Ashok Bajpayi and Ashu Malik.
The BJP's Laxman Acharya won while its second candidate Daya Shankar Singh lost.
The
elections were held as both the BJP and the BSP fielded one candidate
more than what their strength in the lower house of the state
legislature could guarantee.
The Congress and the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) did not field any candidates.
While
the Congress issued a whip for its party legislators to vote in favour
of the Samajwadi Party (SP), Ajit Singh's RLD decided to go along with
Mayawati's BSP.
The Congress support had virtually ensured,
before the voting, that all eight SP candidates will sail through. All
eyes were on how the extra candidate each of the BSP and BJP would fare.
While the BSP managed extra votes, the BJP failed to garner the
desired numbers for its second candidate's victory but managed 10 extra
votes.
Reacting to the poll results, the state BJP president
Laxmikant Vajpai said the results exposed the nexus of the BSP, SP,
Congress and the RLD.
"What we have been always alleging about
this unholy nexus has come true and has been exposed," he said while
pointing out these parties were wondering how the BJP got 10 extra
votes.