Lucknow, April 12 : Counting for 27 out of 36 seats of Uttar Pradesh Lesgislative Council began amidst tight security arrangements on Tuesday. It may be noted that on April 9 around 98 per cent out of 1,20,657 votes were polled for these 27 seats. Ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidates have already been elected unopposed on 9 seats. On Mirzapur-Sonbhadra seat BJP candidate Vinit Singh has been elected unopposed after Samajwadi Party (SP) candidate refused to contest the election. On Badaun seat BJP candidate Vagish Pathak has been elected unopposed as SP candidate Vinod Kumar Shakya withdrew his nomination. Similarly, on Hardoi seat SP candidate Raziuddin withdrew his nomination after which BJP candidate Ashok Agarwal was elected unopposed. On Aligarh-Hathras seat victory became easier for BJP candidate Chaudhary Rishi Pal Singh after the nomination of SP candidate Jaswant Singh was rejected during scrutiny. On Mathura-Etah- Mainpuri seat too nominations of both the candidates of SP were rejected. On Ghazipur seat SP nominee Bhola Nath Shukla withdrew his nomination paving way for BJP nominee Vishal Singh Chanchal to be elected unopposed. On Lakhimpur Kheri seat nomination of SP candidate Anurag Patel was rejected during scrutiny. On Bulandshahr-Gautam Buddha Nagar seat SP and Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) alliance fielded a joint candidate, but he too withdrew his nomination paper at the last moment. It may be noted that elected representatives of the urban local bodies elect MLC on these 36 seats. Besides, local MLAs and MPs, being ex-officio members of the local bodies, also participate in the poll process. AB GNK