Ayodhya (UP), Dec 7 (PTI) A Samajwadi Party corporator in Uttar Pradesh's Ayodhya advanced his wedding after his ward was reserved for women so that his wife can contest the election slated for later this month.

Mahendra Shukla won from the Swargadwar ward of Ayodhya Municipal Corporation defeating the BJP candidate in the last election. His ward has now been incorporated in the Laxmanghat ward following the recent delimitation exercise.

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The list of reserved wards was released on December 1. And, a day after, Shukla tied the knot.

"I was already engaged... We were planning to get married in January next year. When the Laxmanghat seat was declared as reserved for women, we decided to go ahead with the marriage," he told PTI on Wednesday.

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"I have worked hard for the people of my area for the last five years and wish to move ahead in politics. For this, I thought it would be better if a woman candidate from my family contested in the municipal polls and who better than my wife herself?" he added.

Municipal elections in Uttar Pradesh are scheduled to be held later this month, though the dates for nomination, polling and counting of votes are yet to be declared. Uttar Pradesh has 17 municipal corporations, 200 municipal councils and 545 nagar panchayats.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)