The UP legislative council has 100 seats. In the current polls, the voters were representatives of local governments such as the members and chiefs of village, block and district panchayats, and even MLAs and MPs. BJP currently has 35 members in the council of which two members–chief minister Yogi Aditya Nath and Thakur Jaiveer Singh contested the assembly elections and won, thus resigning from their council membership and bringing down its active tally to 33. With the latest win, the party is set to occupy 66 seats- causing it to clinch the two-third mark in the Upper House while its alliance already enjoys two-third majority in the assembly. It is after four decades in the state that a ruling party will be enjoying absolute majority in both houses. In 1982, Congress had a majority in both houses. Thereafter parties got a large chunk of seats in legislative council but no one got majority. Historically, the ruling party in UP has always dominated the MLC elections. In 2010, BSP had won 34 out of 36 seats. In 2016, SP had won 31 out 34 seats.
The majority in both the houses gives the ruling BJP a mandate to formulate and implement policies without any hindrance from the opposition. “This victory is an expression of the faith of the people in the development model of the BJP,” PM Modi congratulated the UP CM Yogi Aditya Nath with this message on Twitter. Opposition leader, Akhilesh Yadav, however, dubbed this victory a result of ‘undemocratic means and foul play’, employed by BJP.
He also said 18 out of the 36 winning members belong to the CM’s own Thakur caste.
