Rajya Sabha polls: BJP gives BSP safe passage amid 11 nominations filed for 10 seats from Uttar Pradesh

New Delhi: A total of 11 nominations, including eight from the BJP, were filed for 10 Rajya Sabha seats from Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday (October 27), which is the last day of filing nominations for the polls scheduled for November 9. 

Eight BJP candidates and an independent filed their papers on Tuesday, while Samajwadi Party candidate Ram Gopal Yadav and BSP candidate Ramji Gautam had filed nominations till Monday. 

The eight BJP candidates -- Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, MPs Neeraj Shekhar, Arun Singh, Geeta Shakya, Haridwar Dubey, Brijlal, B L Varma, and Seema Dwivedi -- filed their nomination papers in presence of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. 

One independent Prakash Bajaj, who is supported by the SP, also filed his nomination.

The BJP's all eight nominees for Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh are likely to win as the party has the three-fourth majority in the state assembly. 

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Of the 10 Rajya Sabha seats from Uttar Pradesh that are falling vacant, three are of the BJP, four of the Samajwadi party, two of the Bahujan Samaj Party, and one of Congress. It is necessary to get the vote of about 38 MLAs for the election of a member of Rajya Sabha.

A candidate needs 36 votes to win the election and the BJP with an effective strength of 305, can safely get eight members elected. The party will have 17 surplus votes, apart from nine votes of its ally, Apna Dal.

The BJP has not fielded the ninth candidate -- apparently to allow a smooth passage for the BSP which has only 15 members in the state assembly (after two have turned rebels and one is in jail).

BSP`s Ramji Gautam, the party`s national coordinator and in charge of Rajasthan and Bihar, filed his nomination for the Rajya Sabha seat from Uttar Pradesh on Monday. He is confident to win the seat with support from the Congress which has five members and SP which has nine surplus votes.

The BSP is also banking on smaller parties like Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP) which has four members.

The Samajwadi Party has fielded Prof Ram Gopal Yadav and has an effective strength of 45 votes which leaves it with a surplus of nine votes. The party has not yet disclosed what it plans to do with the surplus votes.

At present, there are 304 MLAs from BJP, 48 from Samajwadi Party, 18 from BSP, nine from Apna Dal, seven from Congress, four from Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party, and five of independents and small parties. 

(With Agency Inputs)