Former IAS officer Arvind Sharma nominated to UP Vidhan Parishad

The Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday released the names of four candidates for the biennial Vidhan Parishad elections, the most significant of them being Arvind Sharma, the former IAS officer who had joined the party on Thursday after taking voluntary retirement from service. Apart from Sharma, the remaining three candidates have been re-nominated and they include Uttar Pradesh BJP president Swatantra Dev Singh, Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma and Laxman Prasad Acharya. The BJP is expected to name six more candidates for the upcoming elections to 12 seats in the upper house. Party sources said that all the BJP candidates will file nominations together on Monday.