Lucknow: Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav ended days of suspense on Tuesday (October 6) by deciding not to field a third candidate for the Uttar Pradesh Rajya Sabha elections. There are 10 vacant seats that need to be filled. The decision means BJP’s eight candidates and SP’s two nominees are set to enter the Upper House unopposed.
The SP chief announced the change in his calculations through a post on X.
“Now our eyes are not on three but on 403 seats,” he said, referring to the strength of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly and the 2027 election due in the state.
The third candidate would have forced an election for 11 candidates competing for 10 seats. Uttar Pradesh currently has 396 sitting MLAs in the 403-member Assembly. Each Rajya Sabha candidate needs 37 first-preference votes. The SP has 101 MLAs on paper. With support from two Congress MLAs, its strength could reach 102. That left the party nine votes short of the 111 needed to secure three seats. The party has 255 MLAs, while its NDA partners account for another 33. The effective NDA strength is assessed at around 294 votes, leaving it two votes short of the 296 required to secure all eight BJP seats. In the present Uttar Pradesh election, 37 first-preference votes are required for one seat. The BJP had eight candidates in the fray after the final day of nominations on October 6. Had the SP put up a third nominee, any shift in loyalty by its legislators towards the NDA could have been publicly exposed the party rift, dealing a blow to cadre morale and projecting weakness within the party ranks and, most importantly, putting it on the back foot in seat-sharing negotiations with its ally, the Congress, for the 2027 UP Assembly election.
Because rajya Sabha voting uses a single transferable vote system, that arithmetic became important. The SP had spent several days preparing for the possibility of putting up a third nominee. Party General Secretary Ram Gopal Yadav and Reliance Industries Group President Dhananjay Nathwani have been named for the two seats. The final numbers would hae made that contest difficult for the SP. The BJP has a much stronger position. The party also has support from some legislators who have moved away from the SP. MLAs mark preferences for candidates, and the required quota is calculated from the number of members voting and the number of seats being filled. Its list included Uttar Pradesh Minister Dharampal Singh, Radhakant Ojha, Prakash Pal, Vidyasagar Sonkar, Priyanka Singh Rawat, Ram Pratap Singh Chauhan, Gopi Krishna Pandey and Shruti Gangwar. The party left out Union ministers Hardeep Singh Puri and BL Verma from the new list. The decision also avoids another public count of SP legislators at a time when the party is preparing for the upcoming assembly battle and working out its political strategy with the Congress and other Opposition parties in the state.
Earlier reporting noted: The Samajwadi Party’s decision not to field a third candidate in the Uttar Pradesh Rajya Sabha elections is being viewed by political observers as a strategic call aimed at preventing internal rifts and avoiding potential humiliation ahead of the Assembly elections. Earlier reporting noted: Analysts suggest the move is designed to shield the party from the embarrassment of cross-voting. Earlier reporting noted: Read | Why Congress Is Turning To Smaller Parties Ahead Of UP Polls
