Chandauli (UP), Oct 2 (PTI) The Samajwadi Party will field a third candidate in the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh, party MP Virendra Singh said on Friday, setting the stage for a contest in the polls for 10 seats.
Speaking to PTI over phone from Delhi, the Chandauli MP said the name of the third candidate would be decided on Friday and the nomination would be filed by October 5.
The Election Commission has scheduled polling for October 16, with October 6 being the last date for filing nominations.
The SP had on September 30 nominated veteran party leader Ram Gopal Yadav and Reliance Industries executive Dhanraj Parimal Nathwani for the elections. Both subsequently filed their nomination papers in Lucknow.
Asked about the prospects of a contest after the third SP candidate enters the fray, Singh claimed that several BJP MLAs wanted to contest the 2027 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections on SP tickets and were in touch with his party.
He also claimed that the SP would use the same strategy that the BJP had used to secure the victory of its candidates in the previous Rajya Sabha elections.
“We will get all three of our candidates elected through the same route by which the BJP had got its candidates elected in the last Rajya Sabha elections,” Singh said.
The SP MP expressed confidence that the party’s third candidate would win.
The BJP-led alliance currently has the numbers to secure seven seats outrightly, while the SP, with Congress support, has the strength to secure two seats based on the present Assembly arithmetic. The entry of a third SP candidate would make the contest for the remaining seat dependent on the movement of surplus votes and any cross-voting.
The SP’s move comes a day after party chief Akhilesh Yadav declined to disclose whether the party would field a third candidate, saying the BJP could field “nine or even 10 candidates”.
In the 2024 Rajya Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh, the BJP won all eight seats it contested, while two of the SP’s three candidates were elected; the SP’s third candidate Alok Ranjan lost.
Rajya Sabha elections are based on proportional representation and single transferable vote, which ensures that the surplus votes of winners are transferred to remaining candidates according to their second preferences.
This is why if a contest happens with more than 10 candidates in the fray, it will boil down to technicalities and astute planning, party leaders on both sides admit.
The benchmark to win one RS seat in UP depends on the number of vacant seats up for election, and the number of active and voting MLAs, but it usually stabilises around 37 first-preference votes.
The BJP currently has 255 MLAs in the Vidhan Sabha while the SP has 101. Three MLAs who defected to the BJP are currently unattached, while one rebel (Puja Pal) is still listed with the SP but has joined BJP.
BJP allies Apna Dal (S) has 13 MLAs, RLD has nine, SBSP has six, Nishad has five and the Jansatta Dal Loktantrik Party has two. The SP’s partner Congress has two MLAs. PTI COR KIS DV
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