396 UP MLAs Cast Vote In Bypoll To Two Legislative Council Seats

As many as 396 MLAs on Monday cast their votes in the bypoll to two vacant seats of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council for which both the ruling BJP and the Samajwadi Party have fielded candidates.

According to UP Assembly sources, seven MLAs, including two from the Congress, did not vote in the by-election.

"As many as 396 MLAs cast their votes in the by-election held on Monday. The seven MLAs who could not cast their votes included three jailed MLAs -- Abbas Ansari (Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party), Irfan Solanki and Ramakant Yadav (both from Samajwadi Party). Besides, two Congress MLAs, one BSP and one SP MLA (Manoj Paras) did not cast their votes," a source told PTI.

Earlier, voting for the by-election to two vacant seats of the Legislative Council began here at 9 am and continued till 4 pm.

UP Congress chief Brijlal Khabri told PTI, "A decision was taken by the party not to vote for any of the candidates in the MLC bypoll, and hence both the legislators did not cast their votes." The two Congress MLAs are Aradhana Mishra and Virendra Chaudhary.

The lone BSP MLA Uma Shankar Singh, who did not cast his vote, said, "I could not reach the polling centre to vote in the bypoll." Based on its strength in the Legislative Assembly, the BJP is comfortably placed to secure victory for both its candidates.

An Assembly Secretariat official said Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Finance Minister Suresh Khanna were among those who cast their votes in the morning.

The bypoll to the two seats were necessitated after the resignation of Laxman Acharya and the death of Banwari Lal Dohre. The tenure of Acharya, who was made the governor of Sikkim, was to last till January 2027 while Banwari Lal Dohre's term was to expire in July 2028.

The BJP has fielded Manvendra Singh and Padamsen Chowdhary while Ram Jatan Rajbhar and Ramkaran Nirmal are contesting from the Samajwadi Party.

The notification for the bypoll was issued on May 11 with May 18 the last day to file nominations.

Only members of the legislative assembly are eligible to vote in the legislative council elections.

The BJP has 255 MLAs in the 403-member assembly while allies Apna Dal (Sonelal) has 13 and the NISHAD Party six.

The Samajwadi Party has 109 MLAs and its ally the Rashtriya Lok Dal has nine. The Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party has six MLAs, the Congress and the Jansatta Dal (Loktantrik) have two each and the Bahujan Samaj Party has one.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)