MLC Nominations Open; No Candidate Files Papers on Day One

Nomination filing for the Varanasi Division Graduate and Teachers seats in the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council opened on Tuesday at the divisional commissioner's compound. No candidate filed papers on day one. Nine nomination forms were taken for the Graduate constituency and five for the Teachers constituency, officials said.

The Election Commission schedule, notified through the divisional commissioner, covers vacancies that arise when Graduate member Ashutosh Sinha and Teachers member Lal Bihari Yadav complete their tenure on 6 December. Filing began at 11 am in the courtroom of the additional commissioner (first) and ran until 3 pm. The last date to file is 6 October. Scrutiny is on 7 October. Withdrawals close on 9 October. Polling is set for 22 October from 8 am to 4 pm, with counting on 27 October.

Additional commissioner (administration) and assistant returning officer Alok Kumar Verma spelled out the basics for aspirants. Candidates must be Indian citizens, not disqualified by the Commission, and listed on any Assembly electoral roll in Uttar Pradesh. They need ten proposers who are voters on the relevant Legislative Council roll. The minimum age is 30. Security deposit is Rs 5,000 for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe candidates and Rs 10,000 for others. Form 26, covering criminal cases and assets, must be filed as a notarised affidavit on Rs 10 stamp paper. Party candidates need the prescribed authorisation forms.

District Magistrate and assistant returning officer Satyendra Kumar met recognised political parties on polling-station arrangements. The Graduate constituency has 63,941 voters and 73 polling stations, with eight auxiliary booths proposed to take the total to 81 booths at 21 centres. The Teachers constituency has 7,478 voters and will keep 21 polling stations.

Eligible graduates and teachers who are not yet on the Council rolls may still apply through Forms 18 and 19. Bulk submission by a party or organisation will not be accepted; only family members may submit forms for their family, officials clarified.

Day one's empty filing tray is normal for Council seats, where serious candidates often wait until papers and proposers are fully lined up. Form collection without filing simply means aspirants are preparing. The political field is already taking shape around the sitting Samajwadi Party members and challengers named by other parties, but Tuesday's official story is the opening of the window and the schedule that follows.

For Varanasi Division graduates and teachers, the next fortnight is paperwork season: rolls, proposers, deposits and affidavits before 6 October. Polling on 22 October will decide who replaces the outgoing members when their terms end in December.

Council elections differ from Assembly contests in pace and paperwork. The smaller Teachers roll and the Graduate roll spread across the division mean booth planning and proposer lists matter as much as campaign rhetoric. Tuesday's meeting on stations and auxiliary booths is part of that quieter machinery. Aspirants who only collected forms on day one still have until 6 October to convert interest into a valid set of papers.