UP MLC polls: BJP nominates historysheeter, close aide of strongman and SP turncoat

The party has fielded Vineet Singh from Mirzapur-Sonbhadra local authorities constituency. Vineet Singh has several criminal cases pending against him and is a historysheeter in the records of Cholapur police station in Varanasi district.

Sources in the BJP said that Vineet Singh had joined the BJP during 2019 Lok Sabha elections. He had contested the 2017 Assembly elections from Saiyadraja seat in Chandauli as a BSP nominee when he was lodged in a Ranchi jail in connection with a kidnapping case. He had finished second in that election.

From Jaunpur Local Authorities constituency, the BJP has fielded sitting BSP MLC Brijesh Singh ‘Prinshu’, a close associate of strongman Dhananjay Singh.

Dhananjay Singh contested the just concluded Assembly polls from Malhani seat in Jaunpur district as a Janata Dal (United) candidate. He finished second against the SP candidate, while BJP came fourth.

“We are not aware when he (Prinshu) joined the BJP. Since the party has declared him as a candidate, he is in BJP from today at least,” a BJP leader in Jaunpur said. Prishu was elected MLC from the same constituency in 2016 and his term expired on March 7.

In Varanasi Local Authorities constituency, the BJP has given the ticket to Sudama Singh Patel, the party’s secretary of the Kashi region unit.

In Sultanpur local authorities constituency, the party has fielded sitting Samajwadi Party (SP) MLC Shailendra Pratap Singh who had joined the BJP a few weeks before the Assembly elections.

He had been an MLC from the same seat for five terms, said a BJP leader.

BJP state secretary Subhash Yaduvansh will be contesting the MLC election from Basti-Siddharth Nagar constituency. He was earlier state president of BJP Yuva Morcha.

In Kanpur-Fatehpur local authorities seat, BJP has fielded Avinash Singh Chauhan, the district president of the party’s Kanpur Dehat unit.

With the Congress and the BSP deciding to not field their candidates in the biennial legislative council polls, it is going to be a straight fight between the Samajwadi Party and the BJP.

There are some independent candidates in the fray too.

The filing of nomination papers for the first phase of elections ended Monday while that for the second phase will end on Tuesday. Voting for both phases will take place on April 9, the state election office said. The counting of votes will take place on April 12. The SP will make all efforts to retain its majority in the 100-member Upper House, while the BJP will go all out to have its majority in the legislative council too.

According to the official website of the UP Legislative Council, the BJP has 35 MLCs, SP 17 and the BSP four at present in the 100-member UP legislative council. The Congress, Apna Dal (Sonelal) and Nishad party have one member each at present.

Meanwhile, BJP’s ally Apna Dal (Sonelal) refuted speculation that it too wanted to contest the poll, for which it was in talks with the BJP. “We are not contesting the biennial elections for the legislative council in UP,” Apna Dal (S) MLC Ashish Patel was quoted by PTI s saying.

The Samajwadi Party had declared its candidates for the biennial elections to the UP Legislative Council on Sunday. Barring the Meerut-Ghaziabad and Bulandshahr seats, which have been left for its ally Rashtriya Lok Dal, the SP has declared its candidates on all the remaining 34 seats.

Congress MLC Deepak Singh on Monday told PTI, “The Congress party has decided not to field any candidate in the UP Legislative Council polls. We will now fight an election, only to win. We are reviewing the performance of the party (in the recently-concluded UP Assembly elections).”

(With PTI inputs)