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The people’s newsroom

StatesUttar Pradesh

Yogi Adityanath takes charge of BJP's council poll push as teachers raise old pension

After a convention of teachers and workers in Varanasi, the Chief Minister campaigns in Prayagraj on Thursday. Polling for the Varanasi division seat is on 24 October.

From the editorial desk · VaranasiPublished
Vidhan Bhavan, Lucknow
Vidhan Bhavan, LucknowVujn at en.wikipedia / Wikimedia

Key points

  1. Voting for the Varanasi division's Legislative Council seat, spread over eight districts, is on 24 October.
  2. Adityanath told voters that about 5,000 votes were spoilt in the last election through small mistakes.
  3. Teachers say the old pension scheme is the issue that will decide their vote.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has taken personal charge of the BJP’s campaign for Uttar Pradesh’s Legislative Council elections, where teachers say a single demand, the return of the old pension scheme, will settle their vote.

In Varanasi on Wednesday, Adityanath addressed a convention of teachers and party workers from the eight districts that make up the Varanasi division seat. About 10,000 people attended. Voting is on 24 October, and the Chief Minister said polling day would be a holiday.

He asked voters to mark their ballots with care, reminding them that about 5,000 votes were declared invalid in the last election because of small mistakes.

“Last time several seats were lost because of overconfidence, but nothing like that will happen this time,” said Pradeep Agrahari, the BJP’s Varanasi metro president.

In all, 11 council seats across different divisions of the state are due to be filled, as their members’ terms end in December. Both the BJP and the Samajwadi Party say they are strongly placed in all of them.

What teachers want

Teachers in Varanasi said the restoration of the old pension scheme was their main demand, calling a pension their only support in old age. Some credited the government with providing cashless medical treatment and said they would weigh the state’s schemes before voting, while urging it to bring back the old pension.

Prayagraj next

On Thursday, Adityanath was due to carry the campaign to Prayagraj, where his schedule included a public meeting at the Government Press Ground in support of the BJP’s candidate for the teachers’ seat, alongside the groundbreaking for the Padma Lok housing project on land freed from Atiq Ahmed’s occupation.