The Samajwadi Party will support the Bahujan Samaj Party’s candidate in one seat in the upcoming Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council elections, PTI reported on Wednesday. The two parties are likely to win two of the 13 seats up for grabs while the Bharatiya Janata Party is expected to bag the other 11.
“The Samajwadi Party will field its candidate on one seat while extending support to the BSP on the other seat for the Legislative Council,” party spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary said.
The election to 13 seats of the Legislative Council are due on April 26. Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav is one of the 13 members whose tenure will expire next month.
A candidate needs 29 first-preference votes to win a seat in the 100-member Upper House. The Samajwadi Party has 61 members in the Council while the ruling BJP has only 13.
“Despite all efforts by our party, BSP could not win the Rajya Sabha election because of BJP’s gimmicks,” Chaudhary said. “Samajwadi Party wants that one candidate of the BSP reaches the Legislative Council.”
The Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party had tied up for the bye-polls in two Assembly constituencies in Uttar Pradesh in March. They won both the Gorakhpur and Phulpur seats. Chief Minister Adityanath had held the Gorakhpur seat for five consecutive terms prior to this electoral upset.
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