Mayawati to seek re-election to UP Upper House

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 meeting of her partymen on Monday, she also disclosed a list of seven other nominees for the Legislative Council (Vidhan Parishad)  and the same number for the Rajya Sabha as well.

Mayawati was nominated to the Vidhan Parishad in 2007, shortly after she rose to power on the strength of her own party. She chose not to contest a direct MLA's election on the plea that she did not wish to waste time on her own election.

Biennial elections to the Vidhan Parishad were due on June 10 while poll for the Rajya Sabha would be held on June 17, according to an election commission official .

The only prominent name in the list of nominees for the Rajya Sabha was BSP national general secretary and the party's Brahmin mascot Satish Chandra Misra, whose term as a member of the Upper House in Parliament was also expiring this year.

Among the other BSP aspirants  for the Rajya Sabha seats were Ambed Rajan, Jugal Kiushore, Saliq Ansari, SPS Baghel, Narednra Kumar Kashyap, Rajpal Saini.

Besides Mayawati, the other nominees  for the Vidhan Parishad seats were Rishipal, Satish Chandra  Jatav, Ram Kumar Kureel, Subodh Ram,  Mohd. Athar Khan , Vinod Chauhan, Lalchand.