The counting of votes for the 27 Legislative Council (MLC) seats of the local body of Uttar Pradesh is going on today. There are 95 candidates in the fray for 27 seats in the state, out of which there is a close contest between the SP and the BJP in most of the seats. The credibility of Bahubali leaders is at stake in some seats.
All eyes are also on Kunda MLA Raghuraj Pratap Singh (Raja Bhaiya) and Mafia Brijesh Singh. Mafia and MLC Brijesh Singh’s wife Annapurna Singh has managed to win the independent Varanasi-Chandauli-Bhadohi seat. Annapurna Singh defeated BJP candidate Sudama Patel.
BJP got a crushing defeat in Kashi
Annapurna Singh, the wife of the mafia Brijesh Singh and independent candidate, won the MLC seat of the Varanasi-Chandauli-Bhadohi region. Annapurna Singh has secured 2058 votes in the first phase of counting votes. BJP candidate Dr Sudama Patel got only 103 votes, while SP candidate Abhay Yadav got 171 votes.
For the last two decades, the Varanasi MLC seat has been occupied by the family of Brijesh Singh. The last time in the 2016 MLC election, independent Brijesh Singh himself had fielded, who was not fielded by the BJP, giving a walkover. BJP bet on Sudama Patel being in power this time, but Brijesh Singh, lodged in Varanasi jail, defeated BJP by fielding his wife as an independent.
Brijesh Singh’s brother won the Varanasi Legislative Council seat twice on a BJP ticket; his wife Annapurna Singh was an MLC on a BSP ticket in 2010, while Brijesh Singh himself was an MLC had won once as an independent. In this way, his family has held this seat for the last 24 years. Once again, Brijesh Singh’s wife has proved by winning that the political power of Mafia Brijesh in Varanasi has not diminished.
Raja Bhaiya became a challenge for BJP in Pratapgarh.
A triangular contest is being considered in the local body legislative council seat of Pratapgarh. Former BJP MLA Haripratap Singh is in the fray, while SP Vijay Bahadur Yadav and Akshay Pratap Singh alias Gopal Bhaiya have joined the Jansatta Party. Akshay Pratap is a relative of Bahubali leader and Kunda MLA Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiya. Raja Bhaiya has given full force to make Akshay Pratap win this seat, which has created a challenge for BJP to make its MLC in the Pratapgarh seat.
With the support of Raja Bhaiya, Akshay Pratap Singh has been becoming MLC from the Pratapgarh seat five consecutive times. For three times, he became MLC on the SP ticket and was elected unopposed in 2016. In 2018, after Raja Bhaiya’s relationship with Akhilesh Yadav deteriorated, Akshay Pratap Singh left the SP, joined the Jansatta Party, and is now trying his luck in the MLC elections.
After the arrival of the Yogi government in the state, all the Bahubali leaders were cracked down. Still, the BJP could not break the political supremacy of Raja Bhaiya in Pratapgarh. In the election for the post of District Panchayat President, BJP had registered a one-sided victory across the state. Still, in the Pratapgarh seat, BJP was defeated by the candidate supported by Raja Bhaiya.
After this, the BJP candidate’s bail was not even left in front of Raja Bhaiya in the Kunda seat in the assembly elections. Raja Bhaiya himself won the Kunda seat and managed to win the Babaganj seat by his party’s Vinod Saroj. In such a situation, it is now to be seen whether he can maintain his political supremacy in the MLC elections or not.
A similar situation is also in the Azamgarh-Mau seat. Here BJP has bet on Arunkant, son of SP MLA Ramakant Yadav. Vikrant Singh, son of BJP MLC Yashwant Singh, is contesting as an independent in front of him. BJP has already expelled Yashwant Singh from the party for six years.
BJP’s Vishal Singh Chanchal, close to CM Yogi, is contesting the Ghazipur seat. The contest has become attractive due to the support of the SP for independent candidate Madan Yadav. In Gorakhpur Maharajganj’s seat, BJP’s MLC CP Chand, who left the SP, faces SP’s, Rajneesh Yadav.
