The ruling BJP on Saturday announced a list of seven candidates for the coming biennial elections to the Uttar Pradesh legislative council.

Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council Elections: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Saturday announced a list of seven candidates for the coming biennial elections to the Uttar Pradesh legislative council. The ruling party’s list repeated three candidates, including senior leader Vijay Bahadur Pathak, who is also the vice-president of BJP’s state unit.

Pathak’s term is coming to an end in May this year.

The list was released by national general secretary Arun Singh, and includes the names of former ministers Mahendra Kumar Singh and Ashok Katariya who will also seek re-election.

The four new faces are state vice president Santosh Singh, president of the western region of the party Mohit Beniwal, former mayor of Jhansi Ram Tirath Singhal and co-media incharge of UP Dharmendra Singh.

While picking the candidates, the BJP has attempted to strike a balance between  caste and region-based nominees for the Uttar Pradesh legislative council,  especially in view of the coming Lok Sabha elections, party insiders said, according to news agency PTI.

The term of 13 members of the legislative council is coming to an end in May this year. It is believed that the party has left three seats for its allies and Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) has already announced its candidate.

According to the notification, nominations will continue till March 11 and the last date for withdrawal of names is March 14. Voting, if required, will take place on March 21.

The counting of votes will take place after 5 pm on the same day.

(With inputs from agencies)