Yogi Adityanath, four other BJP ministers to contest UP MLC by-polls

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and his four ministers were Wednesday named as BJP nominees for UP Upper House by-polls as the party top leadership decided to avoid the assembly route for their election as legislators.

Apart from Yogi, his two deputy chief ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Dinesh Sharma and ministers Swatantra Dev Singh and Mohsin Raz will contest the by-polls which would be held on September 19, the BJP central election committee decided on Wednesday.The DH on July 29 itself had reported that the party was poaching on opposition SP and BSP MLCs to find a berth for its five leaders.

For all the five BJP leaders, the deadline to become a member either of two Houses of assembly was coming to an end on September 19. To create space for its leaders, the BJP had managed to convince four SP and one BSP MLCs to resign as the party top brass wanted them to concentrate on governance and not be worried about their respective assemblies which they would have to in case of contesting polls, said party sources.

BJP sources said the problem was only one seat in the Legislative Council before the September 19 deadline expired. SP members Jaswant Singh, Ashok Bajpayi, Sarojni Agarwal and Bukkal Nawab had quit last month though their respective tenures would have ended from 2021 onwards. But, BSP's Jaiveer Singh had less than one year's membership of the Upper House left which was a tricky situation.

The EC notification for by-polls to the four seats was issued on August 29 and the last date for filing nominations is September 5. But, the Commission also decided to hold the by-polls for the fifth seat as well. The results will be announced after polling comes to an end on September 19.

The BJP will now have to find out candidates for Lok Sabha seats of Gorakhpur and Phulpur Yogi and Maurya respectively would vacate to become MLCs. The by-polls will have to take place within six months of the day the duo give up their membership of Lok Sabha.