UP Legislative Council Election 2022 records 98 per cent voter turnout

There were a total of 95 candidates in the fray, while the polling was held at 739 centers, as informed by the Uttar Pradesh chief electoral officer. He further informed that many as 1,20,657 voters were eligible to exercise their franchise in these polls.

Lucknow:The voter turnout in the biennial Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council elections held on Saturday was recorded to be over 98 percent, informed the officials. The voting, conducted across 27 seats under local authorities' constituencies, began at 8 am and went on until 4 pm. The average polling percentage recorded till 4 pm was 98.11, with Rae Bareli registering the highest voter turnout at 99.35 percent and Gorakhpur the lowest at 96.50 percent.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who was among those who turned up early to exercise their franchise, told reporters in Gorakhpur, "In the recent assembly elections, the BJP (like in 2017) won more than two-thirds of the seats and formed a strong government. After four decades, a situation has come when a ruling party (BJP) will be able to bag a huge mandate in the Legislative Council too."

He further highlighted that in 2017, the BJP government faced challenges because of SP's negative role, and attempts to obstruct the development and welfare programs planned by the party. "But I hope that in this election we will get a huge mandate in the Legislative Council and development and welfare programs will move forward," he added.

Adityanath, who voted in the Gorakhpur-Maharajganj constituency, also took to Twitter and said, "For the creation of a new Uttar Pradesh and for the victory of good governance, (I) discharged my duty by casting vote in the biennial elections for the legislative council from local authorities' constituencies."

Meanwhile, commenting on the elections, SP's Mainpuri district president Devendra Singh Yadav said, "Akhilesh Yadav did not cast his vote as MLCs were elected unopposed from this seat." Akhilesh Yadav is the MLA from Karhal Assembly constituency in Mainpuri district and a voter from the Mathura-Etah-Mainpuri local authorities' constituency, while Union Minister Smriti Irani voted in Amethi, from where she is the Lok Sabha MP.

There were a total of 95 candidates in the fray, while the polling was held at 739 centers, as informed by the Uttar Pradesh chief electoral officer. He further informed that many as 1,20,657 voters were eligible to exercise their franchise in these polls. The local authorities' constituencies for which voting was held are 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. These seats are spread over 58 districts in the state.

The counting of votes is scheduled for April 12. Nine MLCs from eight local authorities' constituencies -- Budaun, Hardoi, Kheri, Mirzapur-Sonbhadra, Banda-Hamirpur, Aligarh, Bulandshahr, and Mathura-Etah-Mainpuri -- have been elected unopposed. Two MLCs were elected unopposed from the Mathura-Etah-Mainpuri local authorities' constituency, while one MLC each was elected unopposed from the remaining constituencies.

Following a resounding victory in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, the BJP is looking to emerge as the single-largest party in the state Legislative Council as well by winning a majority of the 36 Upper House seats. In the 100-member Legislative Council, the BJP currently has 34 MLCs, the SP 17, and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) four. The Congress, the Apna Dal (Sonal), and the NISHAD Party have one member each in the House. The Teachers' group has two MLCs, while the Independent group (Nirdal Samooh) and Independents have one MLC each. Currently, 38 seats are vacant.

The voters in this biennial election are village pradhans, members and chairmen of block development councils and Zila panchayats, and corporators in urban areas, while the MLAs and MPs also have the right to vote. The Congress and the BSP did not field any candidate in the Legislative Council elections, making it a direct fight between the BJP and the SP, the principal opposition in the state assembly. Of the 36 BJP candidates, five are former SP leaders, who joined the saffron party ahead of the Assembly polls. The SP had declared its candidates for 34 seats, leaving the Meerut-Ghaziabad and Bulandshahr seats for its ally Rashtriya Lok Dal.

Prominent among those who were fielded were Dr. Kafeel Khan, a pediatrician whose services were terminated after several children died allegedly due to an oxygen crisis at a Gorakhpur hospital, from Deoria; Mashkoor Ahmad from Rampur-Bareilly; and sitting MLCs Sunil Kumar Sajan, Rajesh Kumar and Udayveer Singh from Lucknow-Unnao, Barabanki, and Mathura-Etah-Mainpuri seats respectively.

(With agency inputs)