Lucknow, March 16 : Even before the din over the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections subsides, political parties are gearing up for the legislative council elections. Nominations for the legislative council elections to be held across 36 seats began on Tuesday. The voting will be held on April 9 and the counting of votes will take place on April 12. At present, the Samajwadi Party has a majority in the legislative council. The SP has 48 seats in the council, while the BJP has 36. However, eight outgoing MLCs from the SP have now moved to the BJP. At the same time, an MLC of BSP has also joined the BJP. After the results of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls, the BJP is now eyeing a win against the Samajwadi party again in the MLC elections and get a majority in the upper house too. The elections will be held in two phases. Nominations for 30 seats in the first phase will be held from March 15 to 19. Scrutiny of the nomination papers for this phase will be held on March 21 and withdrawal of nominations will be allowed till March 23. Voting will take place on April 9. In the second phase, the elections will be held for six seats, whose nominations can be submitted till March 22. Investigations can be done till March 23 and names can be withdrawn by March 25. Voting will be held on April 9 and counting of votes will take place on April 12. There are 35 seats in the legislative council under the local bodies' quota in the state. In this, two representatives are elected from Etah, Mathura-Mainpuri seat, so 36 members are selected for 35 seats. Usually, these elections are held before or after the Assembly session. This time, due to the end of the term on March 7, the Election Commission announced it in the middle of the Assembly session. Later, the council elections were postponed in view of the UP Assembly elections. According to sources, the BJP has decided on the names of the MLCs for the local bodies' polls. According to sources, only a few of the MLCs from the Samajwadi Party will be given tickets while majority of the seats will go to party cadres. The BJP is likely to field turncoats on about only 10 seats. On the other hand, the Samajwadi Party is reportedly prioritising new people instead of old faces. Sources said non-performing sitting MLCs could be removed by the Samajwadi Party and promising MLA candidates who lost by small margins could get tickets for the MLC polls. At present, the party does not want to take any risk now. /IANS