Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, his two deputies and a minister were today declared elected unopposed to the Legislative Council. No other candidate was in the fray for the bypolls to the five vacant seats in the upper house.
Adityanath, deputy chief ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Dinesh Sharma and minister Swatantradev Singh had filed their nominations papers for the by-election on Tuesday. The four were declared elected unopposed, Principal Secretary (Vidhan Sabha), Padeeep Dueby, who is also the returning officer, said.
Meanwhile, the nomination papers of another minister Mohsin Raza were found valid on scrutiny today, he said.
Opposition parties did not field any candidate for the by-election to these five seats.
The chief minister had filed his nominations on the seat vacated by SP member Yashwant while deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya filed nominations on the seat held by SP member Bukkal Nawab. Their term was to expire in July 2022.
Deputy CM Dinesh Sharma filed his nominations for the seat vacated by Ashok Bajpai and Swatantra Dev Singh for the seat vacated by SP member Sarojni Agarwal. Their term was to expire in January 2021.
Raza, the only Muslim minister in the Yogi cabinet, had filed his nominations for the seat vacated by BSP member Thakur Jaiveer Singh. But the term of the seat is just for around eight months as it will end in May next year.
Adityanath and Maurya had won the last Lok Sabha elections from Gorakhpur and Phulpur (Allahabad) seats respectively.
Adityanath had taken over as the chief minister on March 19. He had to become a legislator within the stipulated six months of assuming office.
