SP's strength in UP legislative council drops below 10, loses LOP post

The Samajwadi Party has lost the post of Leader of Opposition in the Uttar Pradesh legislative council after its strength dropped below the required 10 MLCs in the 100-member House.

On May 27, the Samajwadi Party, with its 11 members in the legislative council, was the largest opposition party, according to a statement by principal secretary Rajesh Singh.

Based on this, Lal Bihari Yadav was recognised as the Leader of the Opposition.

"On July 7, the number of Samajwadi Party members in the council was reduced to nine, which is one less than the required number of 10 leaders for getting the status of the main opposition.

"Thus, Lal Bihari Yadav's recognition as Leader of Opposition is being ended by the chairman with immediate effect. He continues to remain the leader of the Samajwadi Party in the council," reads the statement issued on Thursday.

Reacting to the development, Samajwadi Party leader Sanjay Lathar, who served as the Leader of Opposition in the legislative council before Yadav, said the leader of the second-largest party in the House gets the post.

"Because the Samajwadi Party is the second-largest party in the legislative council, its leader must be recognised as the Leader of Opposition. We will go to court against this," he told PTI.

Through such acts, the ruling BJP is "murdering democracy", Lathar alleged.

The terms of 12 members of the Uttar Pradesh legislative council ended on Wednesday. These include Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya and Minister Chaudhary Bhupendra Singh, but both of them have returned to the House after their victory in the recently held Legislative Council elections.

Apart from this, the term of six members of the Samajwadi Party, three of the Bahujan Samaj Party and the lone member of the Congress ended on Wednesday.

Currently, the BJP has 72 members in the Upper House of the Uttar Pradesh legislature while Samajwadi Party has nine. The Congress has no member in the House.