Lucknow,August 08: The divided opposition in Uttar Prades has got one opportunity to unite and fight against the Bharatiya Janata Party in the state.It will be,however,a losing battle.
Three Rajya Sabha Samajwadi party members have resigned,besides one from the Congress.All of them have already declared the name of the party of their choice.It is the BJP.
The opposition, like in Gujarat, is likely to press for joint poll for all the seats because it will be the advantage BJP which will go to the election.One of them may approach the Supreme Court.The SP has already given indication to do so.The problem is that the SC has already rejected the Congress plea in this regard.
Two seats were vacant in that state.The vacancies were caused by resignation of then party president Amit Shah and Union minister Smriti Irani.The Election Commission had said that separate election will be held to fill these vacancies.As it was likely to help the ruling BJP the party challenged the decision in the apex court which did not go in its favour.
To fill one of the vacancies in UP,the Commission has already issued notification .The vacancy has been caused by resignation of Samajwadi Party MP Neeraj Shekhar, son of former Prime Minister Chandrashekhar.He has resigned more than a year ahead of his term which was to end on November 25, 2020.
The Commission has fixed August 14 for filing of nominations and the last date of wtihdrawal is August 19.If he is opposed, election will be held on August 26.
Dates to fill other three vacancies are yet to be announced.Two other SP members who have resigned are: Surendra Nagar and Sanjay Seth.
The BJP has a majority in the state Assembly on its own.In 403-member House it has at present 301 members.The main rival SP is much behind with 47.
The party has separated from the BSP and had voted against the Kashmir bill in the Rajya while the BSP had supported.In the Lok Sabha,it had given confusing signal.It opposed the bill but walked out before voting which went in favour of the BJP(the result is based on votes by members present).
These two parties were dumped by the Congress during the recent general elections.But even if all these three unite against the BJP it will not cause any harm to the party.Reason?While the SP has 47 members,the BSP has 17 and the Congress seven,making 61 as total.It is way behind the BJP number.
Currently,the BJP has 78 members in the Rajya Sabha.The number will increase to 82 after these victories.The half-way mark is 123.It will be short of it even if votes of allies members are counted.It has got some important bills passed in the House just because of good floor management.
