LUCKNOW: While the process of filing nomination for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections took off on Tuesday, the parties including the ruling BJP and main opposition SP are in the process of finalizing their list of candidates. Of the 57 seats, set to go to polls on June 10, UP will send 11 members to the upper house.
As per the numbers, the BJP is sure to win at least 7 seats and SP three comfortably. However, for 11th seat, there could be a contest as the BJP with 273 members in Assembly, is short of 15 votes to win an added seat and SP, with 125 MLAs, would need 20 more votes to win the fourth seat. So, this situation may bring second preference vote into play as each member will need 36.63 votes to get elected. As per the highly-placed sources, of the three seats which SP is sure to win, one each may be given to RLD chief Jayant Chaudhury and veteran Congress leader Kapil Sibal.
The party insiders also claimed that SP is scheduled to convene a meeting of its MLAs an MLCs this weekend to take a final call on candidates for the three seats the party is sure to win of the 11 seats that are up for grabs. The 11 seats are currently represented by BJP(5), SP(3), BSP(2) and Congress (1).
If Jayant Chaudhury makes it to Rajya Sabha, he will return to Parliament after eight years as he had represented Mathura in Lok Sabha from 2009-2014.
However, the fate of Kapil Sibal, a prominent face of Congress’s G-23, is still uncertain. In his last term, Sibal was elected from UP with the support of the Samajwadi Party. Sibal, completing term in Rajya Sabha in July, is believed to have a warm relationship with many SP leaders including the SP chief and Azam Khan.
Sibal represented jailed SP leader Azam Khan in Supreme Court and helped him secure interim bail. He also helped Akhilesh Yadav retain the party’s bicycle symbol in 2017 when the first family was locked in an intense family feud, probably the worst in the SP’s existence.
As per the SP sources, the Samajwadi Party is seeking to reciprocate for the help Sibal extended to Azam Khan in his legal battle. However, there has not be an official word on it. “The party has not decided on the candidates yet”, said SP national secretary and the state spokesperson, Rajendra Chaudhary.
However, when Azam Khan, who is currently in Lucknow to attend the ongoing Assembly session, asked about the probability of Sibal being sent to Rajya Sabha from UP by the SP, he expressed his happiness saying if the party was thinking on those lines, he would support the move.
On the other, state Congress leaders chose to remain non-committal over the possibility saying the Congress high command would take the decision. However, this time, the Congress, with two MLAs in UP, is not in a position to field a candidate on its own.