Mayawati not to contest in LS poll

Lucknow: Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati Wednesday announced that she will not contest the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, but kept open the option of fighting a parliamentary by-election later.
“In view of the present circumstances and the need of the country and the interests of the party, the movement and the public, it is the need of the hour that I do not contest the Lok Sabha polls. And this is the reason that I have decided not to contest the Lok Sabha polls,” Mayawati said here.
The former Uttar Pradesh chief minister asked party workers to not get disheartened with her decision.
“When I became UP Chief Minister first time in 1995, I was not a member of either UP assembly or council. Similarly is the provision at the Centre where a person have to be a Loksabha/Rajya Sabha member within six months of holding office of minister/prime minister. Don’t get disheartened from my decision of not to contest LS poll now,” she clarified in her tweet.
The Dalit leader added it would not be a problem if there is a need for her to enter Parliament later.
“If it so happens that I have to get elected to the Lok Sabha later, I can contest from any seat by getting it vacated and become an MP. I will not face any problem,” she said. (PTI)