Many eye BJP nomination for RS, MLC seats in UP

LUCKNOW : The advantage of Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) spectacular win in the recent UP assembly elections would begin to manifest itself - first in the Rajya Sabha polls, possibly in June, followed by the MLC polls in July.

Aware that a BJP nomination would mean an assured win, the list of contenders for these polls is increasing rapidly, with claimants not just from the party but from the opposition too, said party leaders. The term of 11 RS MPs from Uttar Pradesh would end on July 4 (but elections would be held before the expiry of the term) while an equal number of vacancies would open in up in the state’s legislative council too.

Both RS members and members to the UP legislative council are elected for a six-year term. UP sends 31 members to the Rajya Sabha, the highest across all states. Of these, the BJP currently has 22 MPs in RS, main opposition Samajwadi Party has 5, the Bahujan Samaj Party has 3 and the Congress one.

“Each party would roughly need 33 to 34 MLAs to ensure the win of its candidate,” said Brij Bhushan Dubey, special secretary in the UP Vidhan Sabha.

Based on its strength in the UP Vidhan Sabha, the ruling BJP with allies (273 MLAs) is likely to secure the win of 8 of the 11 candidates while from the opposition, only the Samajwadi Party with allies (125 MLAs) could be in a position to secure the win of three of its candidates. Of the 11

MPs whose tenure will conclude on July 4, five are from the BJP – Jai Prakash Nishad (after winning the RS poll he was serving SP MP Beni Prasad Verma’s leftover term), Syed Zafar Alam (after winning the RS poll unopposed, he was serving SP MP late Amar Singh’s leftover term), Surendra Singh Nagar, Shiv Pratap Shukla and Sanjay Seth. The SP’s 3 MPs whose tenure will also end in July include Kunwar Reoti Raman Singh, Vishambhar Prasad Nishad and Sukhram Yadav, the Bahujan Samaj Party’s two MPs include Satish Chandra Mishra and Ashok Siddharth while the Congress’s lone representation from UP whose term is about to end is Kapil Sibal.

June polls will alter these numbers in RS

“For the last couple of years, the party has sprung a surprise each time when there have been RS polls in UP. It won’t be a surprise if the trend continues. There is a long list of contenders wanting to be considered for an RS stint, both from the BJP and outside, as a nomination from the party is a guarantee of a berth. The candidates, whether for RS or UP Council, would be picked with 2024 Lok Sabha poll equations in mind,” a BJP leader said, adding some opposition members were already in touch with the party leadership. Interestingly, SP’s RS MP Sukhram Yadav, whose son Mohit, has already joined the BJP, had also met chief minister Yogi Adityanath in April, leading to speculations about his next move. The BJP, along with its allies, has 273 MLAs, while the Samajwadi Party, along with its allies, has 125 lawmakers in the UP Assembly.

Rajya Sabha elections are based on proportional representation and single transferable vote, which ensures that after the first round, surplus votes get transferred to the remaining candidate in the second round.

In the Upper House of the state legislature too, the BJP, which already has a comfortable majority now, would again look to increase its domination further as the governor is expected to nominate six members over the next couple of months, added BJP leaders. By July, 11 more vacancies would open up in legislative council, and based on the current strength of parties, the BJP is likely to bag nine of these with SP being the only opposition party that would be in a position to send a couple of members to the council. “In a long time, the BSP won’t be in a position to send even a single member to the legislative council,” a BSP leader said while admitting that the party had touched a new low in the recent 2022 UP polls.

Each party would roughly need 33 to 34 MLAs to ensure the win of its candidate