BJP fields Bahoran Lal Maurya for Jul 12 UP Legislative Council bypoll

Lucknow, Jul 1 (PTI) The BJP on Monday named Bahoran Lal Maurya as its candidate for the July 12 bypoll to the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council.
    State minister Arun Saxena said Maurya was elected to the legislative assembly from the Bhojipura constituency twice -- in 1996 and 2017.
    In the 2022 legislative assembly elections, he lost the seat to Shazil Islam of the SP by a margin of over 9,400 votes.
    The bye-election was necessitated by the resignation of SP MLC Swami Prasad Maurya on February 20.
    Swami Prasad Maurya left the BJP and joined the Samajwadi Party (SP) before the 2022 assembly elections and contested from the Fazilnagar Assembly seat in Kushinagar but was defeated.
    Later, the SP made Swami Prasad Maurya a member of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council. However, there was opposition within the party regarding his comments related to 'Sanatan Dharma', after which he broke ties with the SP and formed the Rashtriya Shoshit Samaj Party.
    According to the Election Commission, the notification for the legislative council bypoll was issued on June 25. July 2 is the last day of making nominations and scrutiny will be held on July 3.
    The last date for withdrawal of candidature is July 5.
    Voting will be held on July 12 from 9 am to 4 pm and counting of votes will commence at 5 pm the same day, the Election Commission said.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)