Akhilesh seeks support for SP candidates in MLC polls; makes promises to government staff, aspirants

Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav on Monday appealed to voters to support his party's candidates in the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council elections, while announcing a series of commitments for teachers, education-sector employees and competitive exam aspirants.

Addressing a press conference at the party headquarters here, Yadav appealed to voters to elect SP candidates in the teacher and graduate constituencies.

"I would appeal to voters to ensure victory for all our candidates," he said.

Yadav sought support for former leader of opposition in Legislative Council Lal Bihari Yadav from the Mirzapur-Varanasi Teachers constituency, besides Sushil Kumar from the Lucknow Teachers constituency and Dr Prakash Chandra Gupta from the Agra Teachers constituency.

He also named Kamlesh Yadav from Gorakhpur-Faizabad, Danish Akhtar from Moradabad-Bareilly and Dr Nitin Tomar from Meerut among the party's candidates.

For the graduate constituencies, Yadav said incumbent MLC Ashutosh Sinha will be contesting from Varanasi, Dr Man Singh from Allahabad-Jhansi, Shashank Yadav from Agra and Parminder Bhati from Meerut. He named Kanti Singh the SP candidate from Lucknow.

Akhilesh alleges electoral roll irregularities

The SP chief alleged irregularities in preparation of electoral rolls, particularly in the Agra Teachers constituency.

"There is much discrimination against our candidates there. The administration and the DIOS (district inspector of schools) have even made peons voters, though they are not teachers," Yadav alleged.

He said the party has complained to the Election Commission (EC) and submitted details of alleged fake-teacher voters.

"Think about it, if they can make fake votes for teachers, they can do the same with ordinary voters" he said, urging the EC to remove alleged bogus voters from the electoral rolls.

SP promises pension, teacher welfare measures

Announcing several commitments aimed at wooing professionals, Yadav said restoration of the Old Pension Scheme for government employees would remain a part of the SP's manifesto.

He said the party has historically taken decisions in favour of teachers whenever in power, and would further their commitment towards educators in its forthcoming manifesto.

Yadav said the SP government had earmarked Rs 200 crore for honorariums for teachers working in unaided institutions and promised to make a similar provision again if the party returned to power.

"Teachers' service security, promotion and the provision related to salaries of ad-hoc principals will be restored," he said.

He also promised measures for teachers working in madrassas, alleging discrimination against such institutions under the BJP government.

"All problems faced by madrassas will be resolved if the Samajwadi Party forms government. The salaries of madrassa teachers will be restored and their arrears will also be paid," Yadav said.

Sanskrit teachers and schools would also receive due attention under SP government. "During the 'samajwadi' government, Sanskrit teachers were given the status of teachers and were accorded respect. The problems faced by Sanskrit schools today will be addressed when the 'samajwadi' return to power."

On 'shiksha mitras' (ad-hoc primary teachers), Yadav said the party would formulate a policy to address their concerns and provide them recognition as teachers.

"The arrangement of shiksha mitras was started by the BJP itself. It was a half-way arrangement, making half-teachers with half-employment. The decision to give them respect was taken by the 'samajwadi' government," he said.

SP outlines school, recruitment reforms

He further alleged that government schools had deteriorated under the present government and said SP would work to address their problems when voted to power.

Yadav promised reforms for government schools and a regular recruitment calendar for competitive examination aspirants.

"Students preparing for competitive exams have for long demanded a regular calendar for advertisements of posts be issued. We are including this in our manifesto," he said, adding that such a calendar would provide greater certainty to young government job aspirants.

The SP chief expressed hope that voters would support the party's candidates.

Elections to 11 seats of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council will be held October 23. The counting of votes will take place on October 27.