Rajya Sabha elections in UP has turned out to be straight and simple, with 11 candidates in the fray for the same number of vacancies. The ruling BSP is all set to gain from the surplus votes of the BJP and Samajwadi Party, as the party is short of the support of the 12 MLAs to ensure the victory of its seventh candidate.
Though the SP has 18 surplus votes and the BJP has 14 extra votes, the two parties did not take the gamble of fielding additional candidates, as they were not in a position to cobble up the necessary support of the extra. These two parties were also wary of the fact that their MLAs could have cross voted in favour of other candidates, and thus could have caused major embarrassment.
A winning candidate needs the support of 34 MLAs in the UP Assembly and indications are that there would be no further nomination of new candidates then that of already announced 11 candidates by all the parties.
In all likelihood the 11 candidates in the fray may be directly elected, as voting will take place only if extra candidates file nomination against the vacancies.
The BSP has fielded seven candidates, namely the party general secretary, Satish Chandra Misra, Ambeth Rajan, Jugal Kishore, Salem Ansari, S.P. Singh Baghel, Narendra Kumar Kashyap and Rajpal Singh Siani. Mr Baghel had unsuccessfully contested from the Firozabad Lok Sabha seat and had come third, with the seat going to Congress’ Raj Babbar.
Mr Baghel, who has been Lok Sabha MP four times, had defected from the SP during the trust vote on the issue of the Indo-US nuclear deal.
The Congress’ Satish Sharma is sitting pretty by clinching the support of the 10 member RLD and SP.
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Congress, SP leaders file nominations
age correspondent
Lucknow
June 2: Capt. Satish Sharma of the Congress, Mr Mohan Singh and Mr Rasheed Masood of the Samajwadi Party filed their nomination for the Rajya Sabha biennial elections from Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday.
A total of four candidates, including Mr Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi of the BJP, have filed their nomination papers so far.
The nominations for the 11 Rajya Sabha seat will continue till June 7 and polling, if needed, will take place on June 17.
The seven candidates of the ruling BSP are expected to file their nominations within a day or two.