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Rajya Sabha polls in UP: Contest off as Samajwadi Party drops plan for third candidate, settles for 2
The 10 Rajya Sabha seats from Uttar Pradesh are now likely to be filled unopposed, with the BJP getting eight seats and the SP retaining the remaining two.
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The Samajwadi Party on Tuesday decided against fielding a third candidate for the 10 Rajya Sabha seats from Uttar Pradesh, leaving the BJP with eight candidates and the SP with two in the fray.
With the BJP having nominated eight candidates and the SP two, the 10 seats are now set to be filled without a contest, provided all 10 nominations clear scrutiny and no candidate withdraws before the October 9 deadline.
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The SP had been considering fielding a third candidate and had completed preparations for the move. However, the party decided against it on Tuesday morning after assessing the numbers and the possibility of cross-voting.
Deep Dive
A key factor was the open-ballot system in Rajya Sabha elections. The system allows authorised party representatives to see how their legislators have voted. With the Uttar Pradesh assembly election due in 2027, some MLAs from the NDA camp were understood to be reluctant to openly vote for an opposition candidate just months before the state polls.
The decision came a day after senior SP MLA Ravidas Mehrotra said the party had completed the formalities for a third candidate. On Tuesday morning, SP president Akhilesh Yadav posted on X: “Now our eyes are not on three but on 403 seats”, signalling the party's focus on the upcoming Uttar Pradesh assembly election.
The SP has already nominated party general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav, who is seeking a sixth term in the Rajya Sabha, and Reliance Industries executive Dhanraj Parimal Nathwani. Both have filed their nomination papers.
The BJP, meanwhile, announced eight candidates on Monday, dropping all seven of its outgoing members from Uttar Pradesh, including Union ministers Hardeep Singh Puri and BL Verma. The party's nominees are Dharampal Singh, Radhakant Ojha, Prakash Pal, Vidyasagar Sonkar, Gopi Krishna Pandey, Priyanka Singh Rawat, Ram Pratap Singh Chauhan and Shruti Gangwar.
The BJP's eight candidates are scheduled to file their nomination papers at the Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha in Lucknow on Tuesday.
Why the SP did not field a third candidate
Under the single transferable vote system used for Rajya Sabha elections, a candidate requires 37 first-preference votes based on the current effective strength of the Uttar Pradesh assembly.
The BJP-led NDA has the numbers to secure eight seats, while the SP, with Congress support, has enough legislators to win two. A third SP candidate would have required votes from outside the SP-Congress camp.
That made cross-voting central to the calculations. While the possibility of NDA legislators supporting an SP candidate could not be ruled out, the open-ballot system meant that such a move would be visible to party representatives. With the 2027 assembly election approaching, the SP ultimately chose not to risk a direct numbers battle in the Upper House.
An independent candidate, Kante Sayyana, has also filed nomination papers. However, the candidature is expected to be rejected during scrutiny as the nomination does not have the required 10 MLAs as proposers.
Tuesday is the last day for filing nominations. The papers will be scrutinised on October 7, while October 9 is the last date for withdrawal of candidature. Voting is scheduled for October 16.
