Lucknow, 27 February: As seven Samajwadi Party (SP) MLAs cross-voted for the BJP in Uttar Pradesh’s Rajya Sabha elections, the party’s head, Akhilesh Yadav, stated on Tuesday that the party’s decision to run a third candidate was a “loyalty test” to identify the rebels. Our third seat (bid) in the Rajya Sabha was basically a test to identify sincere comrades and to determine who was with the PDA at heart and who was against the backward classes, Dalits, and minorities by conscience, Akhilesh Yadav wrote in Hindi on X.
According to reports, the SP MLAs who cross-voted were Rakesh Pandey, Rakesh Pratap Singh, Abhay Singh, Vinod Chaturvedi, Manoj Pandey, Ashutosh Maurya, and Pooja Pal. One lawmaker, Maharaji Prajapati, was absent.
Earlier in the day, SP MLA Manoj Pandey of Unchahar quit as the party’s chief whip, throwing a blow to Akhilesh Yadav. Following his resignation, Manoj Pandey said that he will vote for the BJP. His resignation was accepted, and his nameplate was taken down from outside the chief whip’s office. This event happened a day after eight party MLAs, including Manoj Pandey, failed to attend a meeting held by Akhilesh Yadav.
A senior SP politician, who requested anonymity, claimed the party president had arranged a meeting to update the MLAs on the Rajya Sabha voting process. However, Manoj Pandey and seven other MLAs (Mukesh Verma, Maharaji Prajapati, Pooja Pal, Rakesh Pandey, Vinod Chaturvedi, Rakesh Pratap Singh, and Abhay Singh did not attend the meeting.
Voting began on Tuesday in high-stakes elections for ten Rajya Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh, with eight BJP candidates and three SP candidates competing. UP Chief Minister Yogi Aditynath, Deputy Chief Ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak, and Akhilesh Yadav were among the important figures who appeared to the state Assembly to vote.
Meanwhile, 10 Samajwadi Party MLAs are in communication with the BJP for the eighth Rajya Sabha seat and have cross-voted for the party, according to sources. Rakesh Pratap Singh, an SP MLA, cross-voted for the BJP and screamed ‘Jai Shri Ram’.
The ruling BJP and the main opposition SP have enough votes to send seven and three members to the Rajya Sabha, respectively, but with the BJP fielding its eighth candidate, a close race is expected in one of the seats.
