LUCKNOW: For the upcoming UP Legislative council polls to 36 seats, the Samajwadi Party has decided to field the Gorakhpur pediatrician Dr Kafeel Khan from the Deoria-Kushinagar legislative council constituency. Khan had hit the headlines first time following the deaths of around 67 kids due to lack of oxygen at Gorakhpur’s Baba Raghav Das (BRD) Medical College in 2017. Dr Khan was heading the paediatric ward and had been suspended along with eight other persons including the BD Medical College principal for dereliction of duty.
Apart from Khan, Akhilesh Yadav-led SP has fielded Vasudev Yadav from the Allahabad-Kaushambi seat.
Khan met Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday and presented a book written by him on the Gorakhpur hospital tragedy. According to sources, the Samajwadi Party, contemplating denying tickets to non-performers in State Council, is mulling to give priority to new people instead of old faces. Sources added that some MLA candidates, who fought UP assembly polls 2022 and lost by a narrow margin, maybe pitched by the SP in Council elections.
The voting for the 36 seats of council under the quota of the local body will take place in a single phase on April 9 and the results will be announced on April 12. All the major parties of the state have started finalizing the names of the candidates for the same. The process of the nomination started on Tuesday.
In November last year, the UP government had terminated the services of Dr Khan. In April 2018, he was granted bail by the Allahabad high court which observed that there was no proof of medical negligence against the doctor in the case. “Yes, Dr Kafeel Khan will be our candidate,” said SP's national secretary Rajendra Chaudhary.
The SP has handed over party symbol to a number of candidates including Udaiveer Singh and Rakesh Yadav from the Mathura-Etah-Mainpuri constituency which sends two members to the state council. Moreover, the party has fielded Dr Manoj Yadav from Jaunpur, Arvind Giri Yadav from Ballia, Guddu Yadav from Azamgarh-Mau, Santosh Yadav Sunny from Basti-Siddharthnagar, Sunil Kumar Singh Sajan from Lucknow-Unnao, Rajesh Kumar Yadav from Barabanki, Hira Lala Yadav from Faizabad local seat. The party has placed a bet on Vasudev Yadav from Prayagraj.
The nomination for UP MLC elections will be held in two phases. In the first phase, for 30 seats, forms can be filed from March 15 to March 19 and scrutiny of nomination papers will be held on March 21, while names can be withdrawn till March 23. In the second phase, nomination papers for the remaining six seats can be filled till March 22. Scrutiny of nomination papers will be done on March 23 and names can be withdrawn till March 25.