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SP set to adopt PDA formula in RS poll, will Jaya Bachchan get another term?
Ten RS seats from UP are becoming vacant as nine BJP members and one SP member will retire on April 2. The SP, by way of its increased strength in the UP assembly (from 47 in 2017 to 108 in 2022 assembly polls ), is now in a position to send three members and is set to adopt the PDA formula on the three seats looking at the Lok Sabha elections in a few months.
Lucknow: A question mark hangs over the possibility of four-time Samajwadi Party (SP) Rajya Sabha member Jaya Bachchan getting yet another term in the upper house of the parliament as her term ends on April 2. If she gets it, it will be her fifth term and she will be the second person in the SP to have it after SP chief national general secretary, Ram Gopal Yadav who is currently serving fifth term. However, irrespective of whether or not she gets another term, the SP will have a ‘PDA’ imprint on this Rajya Sabha election in this Lok Sabha election year.
Ten RS seats from UP are becoming vacant as nine BJP members and one SP member will retire on April 2. The SP, by way of its increased strength in the UP assembly (from 47 in 2017 to 108 in 2022 assembly polls ), is now in a position to send three members and is set to adopt the PDA formula on the three seats looking at the Lok Sabha elections in a few months. The acronym PDA coined by Akhilesh stands for P (pichhada or backward classes), D (Dalits) and A (Alpsankhyak or minorities, including Muslims). The three communities, taken together, comprise roughly 80-85% of the total population of the state--the electorate that the SP is trying to consolidate for the LS polls.
The SP currently has three members in the Rajya Sabha--a Yadav (Ram Gopal Yadav), a Muslim (Javed Ali Khan), and Jaya Bachchan.
As per sources, the party might field a Dalit, a non-Yadav OBC and either repeat Jaya Bachchan or send another Muslim or a Jat (OBC). Since 2022, Akhilesh has increased emphasis on expanding the party beyond its traditional Muslim-Yadav base, including non-Yadav OBCs and Dalits in its political agenda. Since then, be it ticket distribution in 2022 polls or the organisational structure (including the national executive and the state executive) , the SP has tried to give representation to the Yadavs, non-Yadav OBCs, Muslims, and Dalits.
However, there are some external pressures on the SP to drop Jaya Bachchan.
Two days after the Election Commission of India (ECI) announced elections for Rajya Sabha for the seats getting vacated, including the one held by Jaya Bachchan, AIMIM (All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen) chief Asaduddin Owaisi’s post on his X account, referring to the Jaya Bachchan’s seat falling vacant and Muslims in UP, said: “UP ke”PDA ke A” vote dijiye aur dari bichayein aap log. Kyunki aap koi filmi actor nahi hai jisko 4 baar Rajya Sabha bheja jaye. Kariye jawani qurban lekin apne liye Rajya Sabha mei ek seat mat mangna “bhaiya” se (He meant that Muslims are used by the Samajwadi Party for their votes and doing side work. And they are not a film star who could be sent to Rajya Sabha four times). However, the same day, replying to Owaisi’s post, SP leader Sudhir Panwar wrote: “UP’s PDA know how to vote and whom to vote for. If you have done anything for A (Muslims) other than making statements then come over to UP and tell”.
Another SP leader, Mohd Ebad, replied: “Muslims have 66% representation in the party’s share in the Lok Sabha (two of three SP MPs are Muslim), 33% representation in Rajya Sabha (one of three SP RS members is Muslim), 26.85% share in UP Vidhan Sabha (29 of 108 SP MLAs are Muslim), and 22.22% in UP Vidhan Parishad (2 to nine SP MLCs are Muslim).”
“It will be a good consolidation politics, in this election year, to imprint PDA in the forthcoming Rajya Sabha elections while fielding three candidates. Jaya ji has served the party well and she is the national secretary of the party. The party might also resend her to the Rajya Sabha giving a seat each to a Dalit and a non-Yadav OBC. There is one Muslim RS member and a Yadav RS member already, so there is no real need to send a Muslim or a Yadav to Rajya Sabha”, said a senior SP member who did not want to be named.
SP national secretary and spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary, said: “Discussions are going on in the party for the selection of candidates and of course, PDA would reflect in the selection. But so far as Jaya Bachchan ji is concerned, she also is part of the PDA-the A there also means ‘Aadhi Aabaadi (half the population--that is women).”
Samajwadi Party has 108 MLAs and its ally RLD has nine and the INDIA bloc partner Congress has one--this makes a total of 119 MLAs. A candidate would need 37 first preference votes to secure a seat in the Rajya Sabha and thus the SP would comfortably be able to send 3 members to the Rajya Sabha.
The last date for the filing of the nomination for the polls is February 15. The polling will be held on February 27 and the results will be announced on the same day.
