UP MLC Elections: Voting Underway For 27 Vidhan Parishad Seats As 9 MLCs Elected Unopposed

An average of 20.02 per cent polling was recorded in the state till 10 am.

Varanasi: A security person stands guard as citizens wait to cast their vote in UP MLC elections, at a polling booth in Varanasi, Saturday, April 9, 2022. (PTI Photo)

New Delhi: Polling is underway for 27 seats of Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council across 58 districts which commenced on Saturday morning at 8 am and will conclude at 4 pm, reported news agency ANI. 

Polling is underway at 739 centres and 1,20,657 voters are expected to choose from amongst 95 candidates who are in the fray, said Uttar Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer, quoted by the news agency. 

An average of 20.02 per cent polling was recorded in the state till 10 am, with Pratapgarh registering the lowest turnout at 9.60 per cent, and Basti-Siddharthnagar and Moradabad-Bijnor constituencies the highest at 32 percent, as per Election Commission of India, quoted by PTI. 

Nine MLCs have been elected unopposed from eight local authorities' constituencies. Two MLCs were elected unopposed from the Mathura-Etah-Mainpuri local authorities' constituency, while from the rest of the constituencies, one MLC each was elected unopposed.

One of the prominent Legislative Council member seats of the Meerut-Ghaziabad region has a total of six candidates in the fray. A total of 11 polling stations have been set up in the region and the entire poll process is being videotaped, reported the news agency. 

The Bharatiya Janata Party has fielded Dharmendra Bharadwaj from this seat while Sunil Kumar Rohta is his contender from the Samajwadi Party and Rashtriya Lok Dal alliance (SP-RLD) 

In the 100-member Legislative Council, the BJP has 34 MLCs, the Samajwadi Party (SP) has 17 and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has four at present. The Congress, Apna Dal (Sonelal), and NISHAD party have one member each while the Independent group Nirdal Samooh and Independents have 1 MLC each.

Speaking to reporters, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said, “After almost 4 decades, a ruling party will attain a majority in the Legislative Council ...Anti-land-mafia task force is taking back encroached land from mafias, we won't raze shanties of poor on encroached land until we rehabilitate them."

Meanwhile Gorakhpur MP Ravi Kishan said, “We'll have majority in legislative council...The man (accused in Gorakhpur temple attack case)attacked policeman, there were devotees too, he would've injured them as well...Mamata Banerjee must stop vote bank politics, it's plunging country towards riots.”

Voting is being held for the following local authorities' constituencies -- Moradabad-Bijnor, Rampur-Bareilly, Pilibhit-Shahjahanpur, Sitapur, Lucknow-Unnao, Rae Bareli, Pratapgarh, Sultanpur, Barabanki, Bahraich, Gonda, Faizabad, Basti-Siddharthnagar, Gorakhpur-Maharajganj, Deoria, Azamgarh-Mau, Ballia, Ghazipur, Jaunpur, Varanasi, Allahabad, Jhansi-Jalaun-Lalitpur, Kanpur-Fatehpur, Etawah-Farrukhabad, Agra-Firozabad, Meerut-Ghaziabad, and Muzaffarnagar-Saharanpur.

Counting of votes will take place on April 12. 

(With inputs from ANI and PTI)