Uttar Pradesh Rajya Sabha Polls Big Update: Political unrest in Uttar Pradesh has taken centre stage after eight MLAs from the Samajwadi Party (SP) reportedly skipped the dinner hosted by the party ahead of the Rajya Sabha polls in the state slated to take place February 27 for 10 Rajya Sabha seats. 

The elections for the 10 Rajya Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh will take place today. However, the latest development in the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party has created stir among party leaders and workers. The Samajwadi Party has fielded three candidates in the upcoming Rajya Sabha polls. In fact, on the eve of voting, SP had called a meeting of all its MLAs and organized a dinner for them.

11 candidates have been fielded by BJP and SP for 10 Rajya Sabha seats

Reports suggest that eight SP MLAs didn’t attend the meeting and the dinner hosted by the party on the eve of the Rajya Sabha polls. The Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs), who reportedly skipped the dinner are Amethi MLA Maharaji Prajapati, Kalpi MLA Vinod Chaturvedi, Unchahar MLA Manoj Pandey, Sirathu MLA Pallavi Patel and Jalalpur MLA Rakesh Pandey. 

With this fresh development in the state, the party would only manage to send only two of its candidates to the Rajya Sabha if 7 of party MLAs cross-voted. Reportedly, Apna Dal (Kameravadi) party leader Pallavi Patel, who had contested the elections on the SP symbol, announced that she will not vote in the Rajya Sabha elections, expressing her opposition against party’s decision to make Jaya Bachchan its candidate.

The BJP, on the other hand, is fielding 8 candidates for Rajya Sabha polls and efforts are being made to ensure a win for all of them. This means, a total of 11 candidates are in the political battlefield for 10 seats.

The BJP and the SP are the two largest parties in the 403-member state assembly with 252 MLAs and 108 MLAs respectively. The Congress, an alliance partner of the SP, has two seats.

BJP ally Apna Dal (Sonelal) has 13 seats, NISHAD Party has six seats, RLD has nine seats, SBSP six, Jansatta Dal Loktantrik two and the BSP has one seat. Four seats are currently vacant.

The seven other candidates fielded by the BJP are 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 Samajwadi Party has fielded actor-MP Jaya Bachchan, retired IAS officer Alok Ranjan and Dalit leader Ramji Lal Suman.

To get elected to the Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh, a candidate needs nearly 37 first preference votes.

The Bharatiya Janata Party has adequate vote to ensure victory for 7 candidates, but to ensure a win for the 8th candidate the party needs additional 9 votes. If reports are to be believed, Raja Bhaiya has also announced that he will support the BJP candidate for Rajya Sabha. 

(With inputs from PTI)