Lucknow, Sep 29 (PTI) The BJP and Samajwadi Party on Tuesday kept their cards close to their chest over their likely nominees for the Rajya Sabha polls in Uttar Pradesh, even as the nomination process began.
“No nominations were filed for the Rajya Sabha elections on Tuesday. The BJP brought eight forms, while the Samajwadi Party brought four forms,” UP Assembly sources told PTI.
Tuesday marked the issuance of the notification for the Rajya Sabha polls, for which voting will be held on October 16.
Neither the BJP nor the SP has officially announced its candidates from Uttar Pradesh.
However, SP MLA Ravidas Mehrotra told PTI that party leader and sitting Rajya Sabha MP Ram Gopal Yadav would file his nomination papers around 11 am on Wednesday in the presence of SP chief Akhilesh Yadav.
Asked whether the party had finalised any other candidates, Mehrotra said the situation would become clear by Wednesday morning.
The elections have been necessitated by the expiry of the terms of nine Rajya Sabha members from Uttar Pradesh, including Union ministers Hardeep Singh Puri and BL Verma, BJP leaders Arun Singh, Geeta Shakya, Neeraj Shekhar, Brijlal and Seema Dwivedi, SP leader Ram Gopal Yadav and BSP’s Ramji Gautam, on November 25.
Puri and Verma will have to secure re-election to continue as Union ministers.
The 10th seat fell vacant after former deputy chief minister Dinesh Sharma resigned from the Upper House following his appointment as Lieutenant Governor of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Based on the current strength of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly, the BJP-led alliance is in a position to win eight seats, while the SP, with Congress support, can secure two, according to an analysis of the numbers. A contest could arise if more candidates are fielded than the available seats, with cross-voting potentially becoming a factor.
According to the Election Commission schedule, October 6 is the last date for filing nominations. Scrutiny will be held on October 7 and candidates can withdraw their nominations till October 9.
Polling will be held from 9 am to 4 pm on October 16, followed by counting of votes on the same day.
In the 2024 Rajya Sabha elections, all eight BJP candidates were elected from Uttar Pradesh, while the SP’s two candidates, Jaya Bachchan and Ramji Lal Suman, also won. The SP had fielded former UP chief secretary Alok Ranjan as its third candidate, but he lost.
In that election, the BJP fielded an eighth candidate despite having the numbers to get seven elected unopposed, forcing a contest. PTI NAV MAN MDO
MDO
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