Rajya Sabha polls in UP, Himachal, Karnataka amid cross-voting fears

New Delhi: The stage is set for a high-pitched electoral battle in Uttar Pradesh ahead of the Lok Sabha polls on Tuesday, with the BJP fielding eight candidates and the opposition Samajwadi Party three for the 10 Rajya Sabha seats.

The ruling BJP and the principal opposition SP have the numbers to send seven and three members respectively unopposed to the Rajya Sabha, but with the BJP fielding Sanjay Seth as its eighth candidate, a keen contest is on the cards in one of the seats.

Seth, an industrialist and former SP leader, joined the BJP in 2019.

He had filed his nomination in the presence of Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya and other senior party leaders.

Voting for the 10 Rajya Sabha seats is underway and the results will also be announced the same day.

The BJP and the SP are the two largest parties in the 403-member state assembly with 252 MLAs and 108 MLAs respectively. The Congress, an alliance partner of the SP, has two seats.

BJP ally Apna Dal (Sonelal) has 13 seats, NISHAD Party has six seats, RLD has nine seats, SBSP six, Jansatta Dal Loktantrik two and the BSP has one seat. Four seats are currently vacant.

The seven other candidates fielded by the BJP are former Union minister RPN Singh, former MP Chaudhary Tejveer Singh, general secretary of the party's Uttar Pradesh unit Amarpal Maurya, former state minister Sangeeta Balwant (Bind) party spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi, former MLA Sadhna Singh and former Agra mayor Naveen Jain.

The Samajwadi Party has fielded actor-MP Jaya Bachchan, retired IAS officer Alok Ranjan and Dalit leader Ramji Lal Suman.

To get elected to the Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh, a candidate needs nearly 37 first preference votes, an official said.

Meanwhile, Returning Officer Brijbhushan Dubey said, "A candidate will need 36.37 first preference votes to register a win. At present, there are 399 MLAs in the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly." SP MLAs Irfan Solanki and Ramakant Yadav and Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) legislator Abbas Ansari are in prison.

"Polling will be held from 9 am to 4 pm. Counting will commence from 5 pm and results are likely to be announced on Tuesday night," he added.

Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya said that "all the BJP candidates will register a win in the Rajya Sabha elections." Chief whip of the Samajwadi Party in the legislative assembly Manoj Pandey had earlier said that all SP MLAs will be voting for the party's candidates in the Rajya Sabha election.

On being asked if one of the SP candidates may eventually fall short by one vote, Pandey said, "How will we fall short? Our people had contested (the 2022 UP Assembly elections) from the SBSP and the Rashtriya Lok Dal. And, basically, they are from the SP." Although Pandey exuded confidence that MLAs of the SBSP and the RLD will vote for the SP candidates, both parties have joined the BJP-led NDA.

Apna Dal (Kamerawadi) leader Pallavi Patel, an ally of the Samajwadi Party, had earlier said that she would not vote in the Rajya Sabha polls as she did not agree with the SP decision to field Bachchan and Ranjan.

Speaking to PTI on Sunday, she had said, "I will be voting in the Rajya Sabha elections. That is my right and my duty. But I have not decided yet who will be the candidate." SP candidate and former chief secretary of UP Alok Ranjan expressed confidence that "all the three candidates fielded by the party will emerge victorious in the Rajya Sabha elections."

Virendra Chaudhary, the Congress MLA from Pharenda in Maharajganj said that (now) with the Congress and SP forging an alliance for the upcoming Lok Sabha election, the picture here is also very clear. "We will vote for the candidates fielded by the SP. The candidate of the SP will be our candidate. We will vote for the SP candidate, about whom we will be told by SP chief Akhilesh Yadav," he said.

Ramashish Rai, the UP unit chief of the Rashtriya Lok Dal, which recently switched over to the NDA fold, said that all the RLD MLAs will vote for the BJP candidates in the ongoing Rajya Sabha elections.

Ajay Maken’s future at stake again?

The Congress on Monday shifted all its MLAs to a hotel ahead of the biennial election to fill four vacancies from Karnataka in Rajya Sabha apparently to keep the flock together. Five candidates -- Ajay Maken, Syed Naseer Hussain and G C Chandrasekhar (all Congress), Narayansa Bandage (BJP) and Kupendra Reddy (JD(S)) -- are in the fray. All parties have issued whips to the MLAs, who are the voters in Tuesday's poll, amid apprehensions of cross-voting.

The Congress has 134 MLAs, the BJP has 66, JD (S) 19, while others account for four.

Of the four others, the Congress claims the support of two independents and Darshan Puttanaiah from Sarvodaya Karnataka Paksha, and is confident of winning three seats. Interestingly, the fourth one - G Janardhana Reddy (Kalyana Rajya Pragathi Paksha) met the Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Monday.

The Rajya Sabha election scene in Karnataka heated up after the BJP-JD(S) combine fielded its second candidate (Kupendra Reddy), even though the alliance had the strength to win only one out of the four seats.

According to official sources, each candidate has to get 45 votes to win, if there are only four candidates in the fray, but in the case of more candidates, then preference votes kick in.

The election is necessitated due to the retirement of Union Minister Rajeev Chandrashekar from BJP, and Congress' Chandrashekar, L Hanumanthaiah and Hussain, on April 2, after the expiry of six-year term.

Congress’ whip in Himachal raises temperature

Ahead of polling for one Rajya Sabha seat in Himachal Pradesh, the BJP on Monday accused the ruling Congress of issuing whip to its members to pressurise them and maintained that the MLAs have been elected democratically and have the right to vote as per their wish.

Addressing the media here, Leader of the Opposition Jai Ram Thakur said the Congress has issued a whip asking its MLAs to vote for party candidate Abhishek Manu Singhvi.

Thakur said the Election Commission of India had made it clear that whip can't be issued for the election and added the Congress has by issuing the whip shown its intention to pressurise the party legislators.

He said the Congress has told its legislators that showing the ballot paper to the authorised agent of the party is mandatory and if any member has indulged in cross voting, the vote will be rendered invalid.

Thakur further said the authorised agent can only see the vote and he has no power to declare the vote invalid.

He also alleged that the police was tapping the phones of the MLAs and checking their location.

Wary of claims of victory by BJP Rajya Sabha candidate Harsh Mahajan, the Congress had earlier issued a whip to its MLAs to vote for party candidate Abhishek Manu Singhvi.

Meanwhile, the BJP's Rajya Sabha candidate has sent a complaint to the chief election commissioner drawing his attention to three line whip issued by the Congress to vote for its candidate.

In his complaint, Mahajan said that such a whip is not only unethical but also against the conducting of elections to the Rajya Sabha as it will affect the decision making ability of the MLAs.

Mahajan, a three-time Congress MLA and former minister, had resigned from the party in September 2022 ahead of the assembly polls and joined the BJP.

He has been repeatedly saying that he knows all the MLAs very well, is in touch with them and is hopeful of victory.

Mahajan said he has filed the nominations to be victorious and expressed the hope that the Congress members will exercise "conscience vote".

He has claimed that he has close links with the MLAs across party lines.

"I am contesting to win and am not bothered about the numbers. Wait for February 27, the polling day," he said.

The Congress leaders have, however, dismissed Mahajan's claim stating the party is united and its candidate will win hands down.

Polling for one Rajya Sabha seat in Himachal Pradesh is underway.

The Congress has a clear majority with 40 out of 68 MLAs and the support of three independent MLAs. Despite the fact that the BJP, with 25 MLAs, is far behind in the number game, it has forced a contest by fielding Mahajan against Singhvi.