Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav along with 12 other candidates was on Thursday elected unopposed to state legislative council.
A total of 13 candidates were in the fray for the same number of seats for biennial elections to the Upper House of the state legislature hence the elections did not take place and all were elected unopposed.
Mr Yadav, who was not a member of either house when he took oath as the Chief Minister, is now MLC and will relinquish his Lok Sabha seat from Kannuaj in Uttar Pradesh.
The ruling Samajwadi Party managed to send its eight members to the legislative council including Mr Yadav.
The main opposition Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party had got three members elected to UP legislative council while Bharatiya Janata Party and Ajit Singh-led Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) had one each member in the council.
Arvind Singh, the lone candidate for Rajya Sabha seat from UP, which was vacated after resignation of Rashid Masood, was also elected to Parliament.
Apart from Mr Yadav, SP spokesperson Rajendra Choudhury, Revenue and Relief Minister Ambika Choudhury, Dr Madhu Gupta, Naresh Chandra Uttam, Vijay Yadav, UMar Khan, Ram Sakal Gujjar (all of SP) Sunil Kumar, Dr Vijay Pratap, Thakur Jaiveer Singh (All BSP), Mahendra Kumar Singh(BJP) and Choudhury Mustaq Ahmed(RLD) were also elected unopposed to the council.
The Congress had supported the RLD candidate in the council.
The SP also managed to send its eight candidate Umar Khan in the council. Umar Khan is the son-in-law of Shahi Imam of Delhi Jama Maszid, Maulana Ahmed Bukhari whose nomination had created a row within the party and senior minister Mohd Azam Khan being vocal against his candidature. The 13 MLCs whose terms are expiring on May 5 are Kashinath Yadav, Khwaja Halim, Dayaram Prajapati, Naresh Chand Uttam, Dr Rakesh Singh Rana, Dr Vinay Pratap, Ashok Dhawan, Ramapati Ram, Ram Naresh Rawat, Pradeep Kumar, Babu Singh Kushwaha, Sunil Kumar Chittor and Harpal Singh.
Bypoll to the lone Rajya Sabha seat was held because Rashid Masood had joined the Congress before the UP assembly elections resigning from his Rajya Sabha membership on March 9. The term of his RS seat, now held by Arvind Singh of SP, would expire on July 4, 2016. (UNI)
