Lucknow, 26 February: Lucknow is seeing a surge in political activity as the countdown to the Rajya Sabha annual elections for 10 seats begins. The ruling BJP and the major opposition, the Samajwadi Party (SP), have enough votes to send seven and three members to the Rajya Sabha, respectively, but with the BJP nominating Sanjay Seth as its eighth candidate, a close race is now expected.
The BJP and the SP are the two largest parties in the 403-member state house, with 252 and 108 MLAs, respectively. Seth, a local real estate tycoon and former SP politician, joined the BJP in 2019. Since the results of the polls, which are being held right before the general elections, are expected to have an influence, both the SP and the BJP are reaching out to voters in a large way.
Raghuraj Pratap Singh, aka Raja Bhaiyya, a former minister and Jansatta Dal leader, is one of the most popular voter. SP representatives went to Raja Bhaiyya’s home to solicit his support, and hours later, state BJP President Bhupendra Chaudhary travelled to his home for a meeting. Akhilesh Yadav also met Raja Bhaiyya and asked for his support for the RS elections. Raja Bhaiyya is a popular voter because, despite the fact that his party only has two members, he has influence over at least four Thakur MLAs who might vote in his favour. Raja Bhaiyya stated on Monday that he had not yet made a decision on the RS polls. The voting for ten Rajya Sabha seats will take place on Tuesday, and the results will be released the same day.
The BJP has seven other candidates: former union minister RPN Singh, former MP Chaudhary Tejveer Singh, General Secretary of the party’s Uttar Pradesh unit Amarpal Maurya, former state minister Sangeeta Balwant (Bind), party spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi, former MLA Sadhna Singh, and former Agra mayor Naveen Jain. The SP has fielded actor MP Jaya Bachchan, former IAS official Alok Ranjan, and Dalit activist Ramji Lal Suman.
According to an official, a candidate in Uttar Pradesh requires almost 37 first preference votes to be elected to the Rajya Sabha. Returning officer Brij Bhushan Dubey stated that a candidate will require 36.37 first choice votes to win. The UP legislative assembly currently consists of 399 MLAs.
When asked if three incarcerated MLAs will be permitted to vote in the Rajya Sabha elections, Dubey replied it would be decided by the court and the political party involved. Irfan Solanki and Ramakant Yadav, both SP MLAs, and SBSP lawmaker Abbas Ansari are in jail.
Dubey stated that the polls will be held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Counting will begin at 5 p.m., and results are expected to be disclosed on Tuesday night, he added. Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya stated that all BJP candidates will win in the Rajya Sabha elections. Manoj Pandey, Chief Whip of the Samajwadi Party in the legislative assembly, stated that all SP MLAs will vote for the party’s candidates in the Rajya Sabha election.
Pandey said that SP leaders who won on RLD and SBSP tickets will vote for SP candidates. However, RLD and SBSP leaders stated that all of their MLAs will vote for BJP nominees.
Pallavi Patel, an Apna Dal (Kamerawadi) leader and Samajwadi Party ally, had previously stated that she would not vote for SP candidates but has now consented to do so.
