Mayawati to seek re-entry to Uttar Pradesh’s upper house

LUCKNOW - Bahujan Samaj Party president and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati will seek re-entry into the state’s upper house of legislature.

Announcing her decision at a party meeting here Monday, she also released the names of seven other nominees for the state legislative council (Vidhan Parishad) and seven nominees for the Rajya Sabha elections.

Mayawati was nominated to the Vidhan Parishad in 2007, shortly after her party came to power. She chose not to contest for the assembly, contending that she did not wish to waste time on her own election.

Biennial elections to the Vidhan Parishad are due June 10 while polls for the Rajya Sabha would be held June 17, according to an Election Commission official.

The only prominent name in the list of Rajya Sabha nominees is the party’s general secretary and Brahmin mascot Satish Chandra Misra, whose present term in parliament’s upper house ends this year. The others are Ambed Rajan, Jugal Kishore, Saliq Ansari, S.P.S. Baghel, Narendra Kumar Kashyap and Rajpal Saini.

The other nominees for the Vidhan Parishad are Rishipal, Satish Chandra Jatav, Ram Kumar Kureel, Subodh Ram, Mohammed Athar Khan, Vinod Chauhan and Lalchand.