Closer to 2019 tie-up, SP to support BSP in Vidhan Parishad polls

LUCKNOW: Taking their newfound friendship forward, the Samajwadi Party has decided to support the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) candidate on a Vidhan Parishad seat during polls scheduled later this month.

The SP will also field its own candidate for another Vidhan Parishad seat.

“The Samajwadi Party will field its candidate on one seat while extending support to the BSP on the other seat for the Legislative Council,” SP spokesman Rajendra Chaudhary said.

The move takes the SP and BSP a step closer to a likely alliance between the two parties ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha election.

The SP, with the BSP’s support, wrested the Gorakhpur and Phulpur Lok Sabha seats from the BJP in the by-elections held last month. Since then, there has been talk of an alliance between the two for the parliamentary polls.

The nominations to the biennial election for 13 Vidhan Parishad seats have already begun. The election is slated for April 26.

The votes will be counted the same day. The state assembly members will elect the Vidhan Parishad members.

To ensure victory, a candidate needs 29 first preference votes.

Arithmetically, the BJP and its allies are likely to win 11 out of 13 seats comfortably and still be left with five additional votes while the opposition parties can get two seats. The BJP and its allies have 324 members in the state assembly, the SP 47 and the BSP 19.

The SP’s Nitin Agarwal had cross-voted in favour of the BJP in the Rajya Sabha election last month after his father Naresh Agarwal joined the BJP. Similarly, BSP MLA Anil Singh supported the BJP. The Congress too has decided to support the opposition nominees in the Vidhan Parishad election.

In the 100-member Vidhan Parishad, the BJP has just 13 members.

The Samajwadi Party has 61 members, the BSP nine, the Congress two, the RLD one and others 12.

Of the 13 seats falling vacant, seven were held by the SP, two each by the BJP and the BSP, and one by the RLD. The thirteenth seat was held by former SP minister Ambika Chaudhary.

His seat fell vacant when he switched over from the SP to the BSP.