LUCKNOW: The battle for 10 Rajya Sabha seats in UP took an interesting turn on Tuesday when a Varanasi-based lawyer, Prakash Bajaj, filed his nomination as an independent supported by the Samajwadi Party on the last day of filing papers.
The biennial elections to 10 Rajya Sabha seats of UP and one in Uttarakhand are due on November 9.
Earlier on Monday, the BJP had announced only eight candidates. The decision was contrary to the popular perception that the party would make a bid for the ninth seat also.
While the SP had announced the candidature of Ram Gopal Yadav as its only candidate, BSP chief Mayawati was eyeing the 10th seat for her party candidate Ramji Gautam.
With the new equation, wherein the SP has put its stakes on the 10th seat as well with the nomination of Prakash Bajaj, voting has become inevitable.
To get elected to the Rajya Sabha from UP, each candidate will have to secure at least 37 votes. This way, the SP, with 48 MLAs, has 11 additional votes to spare.
However, one of its MLAs, Nitin Agarwal, is set to pitch in favour of the BJP. The Assembly strength is 395 and eight seats are lying vacant.
The BJP has 304 MLAs. It needs 296 MLAs for its eight candidates to sail through with eight votes to spare.
With nine MLAs of its ally Apna Dal (Sone Lal) and eight spare MLAs of its own, the BJP would have to muster 20 additional votes if it had fielded a candidate for the 10th seat.
Moreover, Congress MLAs Aditi Singh and Rakesh Singh, two BSP MLAs are in touch with the BJP. In such a scenario, BJP would need only 16 votes if it had filed its 9th candidate.
However, the BJP leadership says that fielding or supporting an 11th candidate was never on the cards.