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Rajya Sabha polls: BSP’s Ramji Gautam files papers

Hindustan Times, Lucknow | ByHT Correspondent | Edited by Joydeep Sen Gupta
Oct 27, 2020 10:04 AM IST

BSP general secretary SC Mishra, its legislature party leader Lalji Verma and 18 party lawmakers were present when Gautam filed his papers. Gautam is BSP’s Bihar in-charge

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) candidate from Uttar Pradesh (UP) Ramji Gautam filed his nomination papers on Monday for the upcoming biennial elections to the Rajya Sabha (RS).

BSP general secretary SC Mishra, its legislature party leader Lalji Verma and 18 party lawmakers were present when Gautam filed his papers. Gautam is BSP’s Bihar in-charge.

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The BSP’s decision to field a candidate for the RS has set the stage for an interesting contest. The scenario will become clearer after November 3, which is the last date for withdrawal of nomination papers.

Also read | RS polls: BJP announces 8 candidates from UP, one from U’khand

Election Commission of India (ECI) has announced that polling for election to the RS would be held on November 9. The election results will be announced on the same day.

Samajwadi Party’s (SP) Ram Gopal Yadav had filed his nomination papers last week.

The BSP is hopeful that opposition parties will support Gautam.

The SP has 12 additional votes.

Though the Congress has seven legislators, two of them have rebelled and are likely to support Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidates.

The BSP is also hopeful of the support of the four lawmakers of Om Prakash Rajbhar’s Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP) and the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) that has a lone lawmaker.

The BSP has its task cut out in the upcoming RS polls following the rebellion of two of its lawmakers – Anil Singh and Ramvir Upadhyay – and the incarceration of its legislator Mukhtar Ansari, who has been languishing in a Punjab jail for the past 22 months.

An RS candidate requires 36 votes for victory.

The BJP, which will be left with 16 additional votes, is banking on the support of alliance partner Apna Dal (Sonelal) that has nine legislators and rebel Congress and BSP lawmakers to repeat its 2018 feat in a bid to win its ninth RS seat from UP in the upcoming polls.

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