Yogi Adityanath, 2 deputy CMs take oath as MLCs in UP

Lucknow: UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday took oath as a member of the UP Legislative Council.

The deputy chief ministers, Keshav Prasad Maurya and Dinesh Sharma, were also administered oath by chairman of the Legislative Council, Ramesh Yadav, at the Tilak Hall, along with two other ministers Swantradev Singh and Mohsin Raza.

All of them have been elected unopposed to the Legislative Council in byelections to five seats that fell vacant after the resignations of four SP and one BSP MLC.

UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath takes oath as a Member of Legislative Council (MLC), in Lucknow. (Photo: PTI)

Mr Adityanath has now becomes the third successive chief minister after Akhilesh Yadav (Samajwadi Party) and Mayawati (Bahujan Samaj Party), to opt for the Upper House. With all the five seats going to the BJP, the party’s tally has risen to 13 in the 100-member Upper House, where the opposition still enjoys majority.

The Samajwadi Party has 61 members in the Legislative Council, the BSP nine, the Congress two and the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) one. While 12 seats are held by “others”, two are vacant. The chief minister and his ministerial colleagues had to get themselves elected to either House of the state within six months of assuming office on 19 March.