UP Legislative Council by-elections: 2 BJP, one SP candidate file nominations

The two seats on which the bypolls are to be held fell vacant after the death of Samajwadi Partys Ahmad Hasan and the resignation of BJPs Thakur Jaiveer Singh, who won the recent assembly polls.

Two BJP and a Samajwadi Party candidate filed their nominations on Monday for the by-elections to the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council scheduled on August 11.

Gorakhpur regional president Dharmendra Singh Sainthwar and Kashi region vice president Nirmala Paswan filed their nominations as BJP candidates in the presence of UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Deputy Chief Ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak and senior party leaders at the Central hall of the Vidhan Bhawan here.

SP candidate Kirti Kol, who was party's candidate from the Chhanbe seat in Mirzapur constituency during the assembly polls and represents the tribal community, also filed her nomination. SP state president Naresh Uttam Patel, party MLAs Manoj Pandey, Ravidas Mehrotra and others were present during the occasion. ''Both our candidates are going to win with a huge margin,'' Pathak told reporters.

Pathak said, ''They (SP) know they do not have numbers to win. They did this only to have their names in newspapers.'' Kol also appealed to all to support her and thanked her party leadership for fielding her. The two seats on which the bypolls are to be held fell vacant after the death of Samajwadi Party's Ahmad Hasan and the resignation of BJP's Thakur Jaiveer Singh, who won the recent assembly polls.