UP Council polls on Nov 6

LUCKNOW: The Election Commission on Tuesday announced biennial elections on five seats from graduate and teachers constituencies falling vacant on November 16 and by-elections on three casual vacancies from local authorities' constituencies to the UP Legislative Council. Polling, if necessary, would be held on November 6. Announcing the schedule, a commission spokesman said that the notification would be issued on October 12 and nomination would begin the same day.October 20 is the date for scrutiny of papers while last date of withdrawal has been fixed at October 23. Polling, if necessary, would be held on November 6 while counting would take place on November 8. Members of UP Council from Graduate and Teachers constituencies who are retiring on November 16 include Lav Kush Kumar Mishra (Allahabad-Jhansi-Teachers), Raj Bahadur Singh Chandel (Kanpur-Teachers), Devendra Pratap Singh (Gorakhpur-Faizabad-Graduates), Jagendra Swarup (Kanpur-Graduates) and Dr Nepal Singh (Bareilly-Moradabad-Graduates). By-polls on three seats from local authorities' constituencies necessitated following resignations of Akshay Pratap Singh (Pratapgarh) and Chaudhari Munawwar Hasan (Muzaffarnagar-Saharapur) on May 25 and May 27 respectively. Both were elected to the Lok Sabha on the Samajwadi party ticket. Another seat had fallen vacant following murder of mafia don-turned-politician Ajit Singh on September 4/5.