New Delhi: The Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) said that it will contest the upcoming local body elections in Uttar Pradesh in alliance with the Samajwadi Party and the candidates will be named soon. "RLD will contest the municipal elections together with Samajwadi Party and the names of the candidates of the SP-RLD alliance will be announced soon," news agency PTI quoted RLD leader Anil Dubey as saying.
This comes a day after the withdrawal of the state-level party status of RLD. Party chief Jayant Chaudhary wrote to the Uttar Pradesh State Election Commissioner requesting that RLD’s election symbol 'hand pump' be allocated in the civic polls.
Dubey on Wednesday stressed that his party will contest on its symbol of 'hand pump'. "The candidates of Rashtriya Lok Dal will contest on the symbol of hand pump in the municipal elections in Uttar Pradesh. Rashtriya Lok Dal is registered as a recognised political party with the State Election Commission," he said.
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It is to be noted that election to 17 municipal corporations, 199 nagar palika parishads and 544 nagar panchayats in Uttar Pradesh will be held in two phases on May 4 and 11. The counting of votes will take place on May 13.
As many as 37 districts under Lucknow city, Saharanpur, Moradabad, Agra, Jhansi, Prayagraj, Devipatan, Gorakhpur, and Varanasi divisions will vote in the first phase on May 4. The second phase of the polls on May 11 will feature 38 districts under nine other divisions — Bareilly, Kanpur, Meerut, Aligarh, Chitrakoot, Ayodhya, Basti, Azamgarh, and Mirzapur.
The State Election Commission's decision to conduct the civic elections comes three months after the Allahabad High Court on December 27 last year invalidated the government's draft notification that provided OBC reservation in the elections. The high court had ordered the state government to notify the polls "immediately" as the term of several municipalities was set to end by January 31.