Lucknow, Jul 3 (IANS): Having twice rejected recommendations made by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav about the names for nomination to the upper house in the state assembly, Governor Ram Naik on Thursday approved four names from a list of nine.

Raj Bhavan has approved the names of S.R.S. Yadav, Leelawati Kushwaha, Ram Vraksh Yadav and Jitendra Yadav.

S.R.S. Yadav is an old Samajwadi Party hand and is a close aide of party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav while Kushwaha is a former minister.

Ram Vraksh Yadav is a senior Samajwadi Party leader while Jitendra Yadav is a relative of RJD president Lalu Prasad Yadav.

These nine seats in the legislative council had fallen vacant on May 25.

Governor Naik, while rejecting the initial list, had sought some clarifications about the background of the candidates.

One name which had become the bone of contention between the state government and Raj Bhavan was that of builder Sanjay Seth.

Mulayam Singh Yadav had twice met the governor to convince him but failed.

Naik apparently decided to play by the book and rejected five names. The governor reportedly sought clarifications about their backgrounds again.

Besides Seth, Kamlesh Kumar Pathak, Sanjay Seth, Ranvijay Singh, Abdul Sarfaraz Khan and Rajpal Kashyap's nominations are yet to be approved by the governor.

Samajwadi Party sources said with the governor not yielding, the party might propose new names.