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Samajwadi Party to field 3rd candidate for Rajya Sabha poll, set up contest with BJP: SP MLA
Mehrotra said the party’s third nominee will file papers on Tuesday, the final day for filing nominations for the October 16 Rajya Sabha election
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The Samajwadi Party (SP) is gearing up to field a third candidate for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections from Uttar Pradesh, party MLA Ravidas Mehrotra said on Monday, setting the stage for a keen contest as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) named eight nominees.
Mehrotra said the party’s third nominee will file papers at the Vidhan Bhavan on Tuesday, the final day for filing nominations for the October 16 election
Signatures of 10 MLAs were obtained on Monday to serve as proposers, and Mehrotra said he too has signed as a proposer.
The name of the candidate will be announced soon, he added.
So far, the Akhilesh Yadav-led SP has so far named two candidates, party general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav, who is seeking a sixth term, and Reliance executive Dhanraj Parimal Nathwani. The two filed their nomination papers on September 30 in the presence of SP chief Akhilesh Yadav.
With the SP now set to field a third candidate, a contest is likely for the 10 Rajya Sabha seats from Uttar Pradesh, and voting is scheduled for October 16 if required after the nomination process, scrutiny on October 7, and withdrawal deadline of October 9. The terms of the sitting members expire on November 25.
Given the assembly’s current effective strength of 397 legislators following recent vacancies, each candidate needs 37 first-preference votes under the single transferable vote system.
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The BJP-led NDA, with the BJP’s roughly 255 MLAs plus allies commanding a combined strength in the high 280s to around 290-plus, is positioned to comfortably secure seven seats but is aiming for an eighth seat, for which it would need about six extra votes beyond its core strength.
The SP, with about 100-101 MLAs (Chail MLA Pooja Pal remains listed under SP in official records despite joining the BJP) and the support of 2 Congress MLAs, has the numbers for two seats but would need around 10-12 or more additional votes - possibly through cross-voting - to elect a third candidate.
