13 declared elected unopposed to UP Vidhan Parishad

Lucknow: All 13 candidates in the UP Legislative Council poll were on Thursday declared elected unopposed.

The BJP had put up seven candidates and allotted the remaining three seats of its quota to its three allies - the Apna Dal-Sonelal, the Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party, and the Rashtriya Lok Dal.

Three Samajwadi Party (SP) candidates had also filed their nominations for 13 vacancies.

As the number of seats equalled the number of nominations, all 13 candidates were declared elected unopposed on Thursday.

"All 13 candidates have been declared elected unopposed," said Brij Bhushan Dubey, the returning officer for the Legislative Council polls.

The BJP members who have been elected to the upper house include former ministers Mahendra Singh and Ashok Kataria, state BJP Vice Presidents Vijay Bahadur Pathak, and Mohit Beniwal, former Jhansi Mayor Ram Tirath Singhal, Dharmendra Singh and Santosh Singh.

The BJP allies elected are Ashish Patel of the Apna Dal-S, Yogesh Chaudhary of the RLD, and Vichhelal Rajbhar of the SBSP.

The Samajwadi Party candidates who have been elected include senior party leader Balram Yadav, former MLA Shah Alam aka Guddu Jamali, and Kiranpal Kashyap.