Cross-voting marked the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council elections even as the Bharatiya Janata Party’s gamble of fielding two candidates despite having the strength of winning only one seat failed as its second candidate lost the poll. The BJP has 41 MLAs in the State Assembly, yet it decided to field two candidates in the hope of winning the second seat, with the help of the MLAs of other parties and some Independents.
However, the two BJP candidates secured a total of 51 votes , which showed that 10 MLAs of other parties supported the BJP candidates.
Biennial elections for 12 Vidhan Parishad seats were held on Friday. In the final outcome the ruling Samajwadi Party won eight seats, the Bahujan Samaj Party, three and the BJP, one. There were 13 candidates in the fray - eight of the Samajwadi Party, three of the Bahujan Samaj Party and two of the BJP. The Congress, which had opted out of the elections had announced to support the Samajwadi Party candidates. The Rashtriya Lok Dal had decided to support the BSP.
The Samajwadi Party winners are Ahmed Hasan, Ramesh Yadav, Sarojini Agarwal, Sahib Singh Saini, Ashok Bajpai, Virendra Singh Gurjar, Ramjatan Rajbhar and Ashu Malik. The BSP’s victorious candidates are Naeemuddin Siddiqui, Dharamveer Ashok and Pradeep Jatav. Laxman Acharya was the lone BJP winner. The BJP’s second candidate, Daya Shankar Singh lost the election.
The elections for the 12 seats were necessitated after the BJP entered two candidates. The countdown to the polls was marked by hectic political activity with late night meetings and dinner “diplomacy” being the order of the day as the SP, BSP, Congress and the BJP leaving no stone unturned to emerge as victorious. Informed sources claimed that the issue was clinched in favour of the SP and BSP candidates after the Congress decided to transfer its surplus votes to the BSP, which was already assured of the RLD’s support.
However, the hectic political activity could not deter the prospect of cross-voting, seemingly in favour of the second BJP candidate who managed to secure 17 first preference votes with the BJP winner, Laxman Acharya getting 34 first preference votes to emerge victorious.
State BJP president Laxmikant Bajpai said the other parties are worried that how could the party manage excess votes. Mr. Bajpai described the outcome of the elections as a democratic process. In fact, it was the BSP whose floor management seemed to have been the best as its three candidates secured a combined 101 votes with Naseemuddin Siddiqui securing 35 votes, Pradeep Jatav, 35 and Dharamveer Ashok, 31. The BSP has 80 MLAs in the Vidhan Sabha.
The SP has 230 MLAs and it secured a total of 245 votes.
The Vidhan Parishad members elected from the Vidhan Sabha constituency are elected by the MLAs. The first preference votes of 31 MLAs was required for winning a seat.
Of the 404 MLAs, 399 MLAs had cast their votes.
